Lacson: Budget insertions, realignments won’t get past Senate scrutiny

Senator Panfilo Lacson said insertions in the form of "pork barrel" and realignments in the National Expenditure Program for 2026 will not slip past his eagle eyes — with the help of his fellow senators who are all aiming for full transparency in the deliberations of the proposed FY 2026 National Budget pegged at P6.793 trillion, a 7.4 percent increase from the FY 2025 budget of P6.326 trillion.

Despite this, Lacson admitted that keeping the national budget free from inclusions and manipulations is not an easy task.

“Breaking the cycle and culture of budget insertions and realignments is a big challenge. I hope we, and other like-minded senators, will work together to ensure transparency in the budget process,” Lacson said during a television interview on Monday night.

However, Lacson maintained that working with Senate Finance Committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian to ensure transparency in the entire budget process is a “breath of fresh air.”

Lacson, who earned a reputation as an eagle-eyed watchdog of the budget, said he hopes to work together with like-minded senators in keeping the budget free from "pork."

“His proposal to upload online the documents related to the budget is a good one. It will mean a lot to see which lawmaker made which insertions that the President described as not aligning with the National Expenditure Program,” Lacson said.

He added he has no reason to doubt that Gatchalian, whom he described as someone who means what he says, will follow through on his initiatives.

Gatchalian on Monday said he will require the publication of the entire budget process on the government's website, starting from the budget requests of agencies to the General Appropriations Bill and the General Appropriations Act.

Gatchalian said these transparency efforts promise “a golden age of transparency and accountability.”

Lacson, who had refiled a bill ensuring public participation in the budget process, including the bicameral conference committee, said he is ready to work with Gatchalian and other like-minded lawmakers in finally breaking the culture of pork-like insertions and realignments in the budget.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in his podcast aired Monday night, cautioned the House of Representatives against any budget insertions for this year’s NEP, stating that it would ruin the country’s reputation with international financial institutions and jeopardize critical foreign-assisted projects.

In his State of the Nation Address last week, the Chief Executive maintained that he would return the 2026 General Appropriations Bill if lawmakers made excessive insertions or moved funds for projects not aligned with the NEP.