A storm is brewing in Congress as lawmakers gear up to debate the proposed P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026, even as unresolved questions continue to hound the current year’s spending program.

During the 2 September House flood control probe, Caloocan 2nd District Rep. Edgar Erice raised a motion to invite former senator Grace Poe and Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co, who chaired the bicameral conference committee on the 2025 budget, to shed light on alleged irregularities.

It was in this context that Davao City 3rd District Rep. Isidro Ungab doubled down on his earlier declaration that the P6.326-trillion 2025 budget was “the most corrupt budget."

"Mr. Chairman, I said on August 4, I said that the 2025 budget (P6.326 trillion) is the most corrupt budget. Until now, I have not heard any denial from the previous chairman or previous members of the committee," Ungab said.

“Does this mean that they cannot dispute what I said, that the 2025 budget is the most corrupt budget ever passed in the history of Congress?”

Ungab’s remarks underscore a growing credibility problem for government spending at a time when the Marcos Jr. administration is asking lawmakers to approve an even larger budget for 2026 – roughly P467 billion more than this year’s record allocation.

Recto vows tighter scrutiny

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, meanwhile, sought to reassure senators that the 2026 National Expenditure Program would be shielded from waste and corruption.

“There must be no ghost projects, no corruption, and not a single peso wasted,” Recto stressed during the Development Budget Coordination Committee briefing at the Senate on the same day.

He underscored that every peso must be spent on projects with the “highest multiplier effect” in infrastructure, education, health, agriculture, and social welfare.

Recto further pointed out that anomalies in past flood control projects under the Department of Public Works and Highways have already drained as much as P118.5 billion from the economy between 2023 and 2025 – funds that could have created up to 266,000 jobs.

“We prepared the NEP with the President to ensure that the projects to be funded in 2026 have the highest multiplier effect. Kaya babantayan po namin ito para walang ghost projects. Walang kurapsyon. Walang sayang na piso,” he stressed.

Lawmakers push early detection

At the House side, legislators pushed for early detection of questionable budget items and urged colleagues allegedly linked to anomalous flood control projects to face the probe.

“Let us not make the investigation personal. Let us do our job by putting a permanent seal in all these anomalous insertions,” said Rep. Janette Garin.

The twin developments – a damning corruption claim from within Congress and a strong assurance from the nation’s finance chief – set the stage for what could be one of the most contentious budget debates in recent memory.

For taxpayers, the stakes could not be higher. As Recto put it, “Let’s ensure that it is a budget that works as hard as the people who fund it – the taxpayers.”