Unprogrammed funds needed to build schools, says House appropriations chair

A House lawmaker leading budget talks allayed public fears on Monday that the proposed 2026 budget would be marred anew by corruption involving infrastructure projects, as seen in recent spending plans.

House committee on appropriations chair Mikaela Suansing assured that infrastructure projects are zeroed out for next year, save for the construction of public school buildings. 

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which has been under scrutiny for allegations of massive corruption, has taken over school constructions from the Department of Education.

The funding for public school buildings will be sourced from the Strengthening Assistance for Social Programs (SAP), formerly SAGIP, lodged under the P243-billion unprogrammed appropriations (UA).

“[Here’s a] very, very important point: There are no more flood control projects, no more roads or bridges that can be pulled from Strengthening Assistance for Social Programs,” she said in a briefing. “So, technically, there’s still infrastructure, but it’s limited to school buildings.”

Suansing’s remarks follow the House approval of House Bill 4058, or the 2026 General Appropriations Bill, which retained the funding for the contentious UA despite mounting clamors to scrap it. 

Opposition lawmakers have vigorously petitioned to abolish it from the 2026 budget, calling it a conduit for corruption, as made evident by the botched flood control projects of the Marcos administration. 

In 2023 and 2024 alone, a whopping P141 billion was reportedly charged to the UA to finance flood control projects nationwide. 

Despite concerns of alleged mismanagement, the House still approved the retention of the UA, deemed as standby funds, for 2026. According to Suansing, it was not included in the P6.793 trillion proposed 2026 budget that was approved by the House.

“If you would want to look at it from a different lens, there is currently no funding for unprogrammed appropriations. No part of our tax revenue of P6.793 trillion goes to unprogrammed appropriations in the current form of the General Appropriations Bill,” she pointed out. 

Nonetheless, the UA will eventually be released if the government has excess revenue or extra funding from foreign loans or grants. 

 Typically, the UA is tapped for emergencies or when infrastructure projects, social aid programs, among others, are required.

Under the 2026 proposed budget, a big chunk of the UA will go to FAP and SAGIP, with P97.3 billion and P80.9 billion, respectively. Meanwhile, P50 billion will be earmarked for the Revised AFP Modernization Program, and P6.7 billion for health emergency allowances.

But following clamors to remove infrastructure in the UA, P35 billion was slashed from SAGIP, effectively turning it into a SAP.

“We are now disallowing infrastructure from being disbursed from what was previously known as SAGIP,” Suansing said.

As part of the effort to stave off the recurrence of potential corruption in infrastructure, the House also adopted the Palace’s recommendation to trim the proposed budget of the scandal-plagued DPWH.

Under the House-approved budget, P255.5 billion was cut from its allocation, leaving it only with P625.8 billion from the original P881.3 billion. 

Almost 80 percent of the slashed amount was realigned to education, health, and agriculture, receiving P56.6 billion, P90.7 billion, and P53.7 billion, respectively.

The House passage of the GAB retaining the highly criticized UA is likely to cause conflict with the Senate—adamant to scrap the so-called standby funds—during the bicameral conference committee. 

Suansing, who will head the House contingent in the bicam, pointed out that they are willing to compromise with the Senate, but insisted that some programs under the UA are necessary. 

Aside from FAPs, the government needs to maintain budgetary support for GOCCs due to possible commitment penalties.

“Perhaps, one thing that they can look at, instead of totally removing the AFP modernization, we can talk about reducing the P50 billion. Rather than zeroing out the particular items under UA, one option is to explore reducing it,” she averred.

Furthermore, Suansing mentioned that Malacañang and the Department of Budget and Management have been “very vocal about” maintaining particular projects in the UA.

Minority lawmakers have posited that aside from Congress, Malacañang and the DBM also share the blame for the flood control anomalies for “allowing” the release of UA to finance the programs in question.

Since 2023, the first full year of President Marcos Jr. in office, the UA allegedly hit nearly P2 trillion, although P168.2 billion was reported vetoed in the 2025 General Appropriations Act.

The blunders in the recent budgets, such as the massive “insertions”, also purportedly resulted in the big-ticket projects, including the Metro Manila Subway and the expanded Philippine National Railways, being derailed.