Congress had perverted the yearly budget to the tune of more than P1 trillion since 2023, when the juggling of funds for the accumulation of pork barrel started.

According to economist Alex Escucha, who gave an enlightening interview in Wednesday’s Straight Talk program, the burglary of the national coffers has been so blatant that even the essential infrastructures were victimized, affecting the development program.

For instance, he said the country badly needed an increase in the education budget so that its demographic advantage, with a majority of its population in working age, could yield economic dividends. However, the yearly budget was oriented towards the Department of Public Works and Highways, which was showered with funds.

Escucha pointed to politicians as having perverted the budget process through massive diversions in the opaque bicameral committee, which drafts the final version of the budget with no minutes and no record of the proponents of items added or subtracted in it.

Counterpart funding allocations were diverted to “unprogrammed appropriations” through budget years 2023, 2024, and 2025, according to Escucha.

Based on a paper that former Budget Secretary Butch Abad presented in a forum at Ateneo that Escucha provided DAILY TRIBUNE, P219 billion worth of projects in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) have been slashed in the 2023 General Appropriations Act; P449.5 billion worth of 2024 GAA, and P373 billion in 2025, or a total of P1.0155 billion in money under the complete discretion of Congress.

Based on Abad’s computation, the amount represented fiscal space freed up from strategic projects, but was diverted to pork.

So what happened to the accumulated pork? The massive budget cuts were initially allocated for priority projects that underwent a protracted and tedious review and approval process, but were diverted to conditional items in the budget to create space for legislators’ pet projects.

In the 2024 budget bill, among those defunded or underfunded were foreign-assisted projects worth P242.1 billion; pension and guaranty fund, P110.3 billion; miscellaneous personnel benefit fund, P106.1 billion; Philippine Health Insurance Corp., P40 billion; calamity funds of P10 billion, and the Armed Forces Modernization program, P10 billion.

The rechanneled amounts went to flood control, P28.9 billion; Department of Public Works and Highways, P174.6 billion; Commission on Elections, P13.1 billion; House of Representatives, P12 billion; Senate, P2.1 billion; cash assistance or ayuda, P26.7 billion; and the aid program Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations program in the Philippines, P9 billion.

The travesty went into overdrive in the 2025 proposed budget when P347 billion was taken from 15 regular items and transferred mainly to pork projects and cash assistance.

The diversion shifted funding from programs promoting empowerment, self-reliance, and community engagement to ayuda or cash doles.

The flagship projects were replaced with those with a greater role and discretion for politicians while enhancing their visibility.

The diversions were also marked by a movement away from strategic transport, infrastructure, and agri-based investments, to graft-prone projects like flood control and drainage systems, and local projects, like roads, bridges and multi-purpose halls.

In essence, the three budgets thus far under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. are all meant to encourage patronage instead of giving Filipinos a chance to achieve their full potential.