From hard to soft pork
The realignment raised the total allocation for these two programs in the House-approved bill to P86.4 billion.
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The realignment raised the total allocation for these two programs in the House-approved bill to P86.4 billion.
The removal of the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) proposed ₱P255-billion budget for locally funded flood control projects has been hyped as though it were a solution to the country’s yearly budget woes.
It is anything but a solution, however, as the pork barrel insertions appear to have been recycled into “ayuda” or cash doles.
A review of the 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) showed that most of the suspected pork barrel funds were merely moved from hard to soft projects that are both at the legislators’ discretion.
On 22 October, the House passed the budget bill, which realigned P47.4 billion from flood control projects to the expansion of the Assistance for Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) and the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD).
The realignment raised the total allocation for these two programs in the House-approved bill to P86.4 billion.
The aid schemes have become patronage-driven, with manipulated lists, arbitrary eligibility criteria, and the exclusion of those most in need.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Protective Program for Individuals and Families in Especially Difficult Circumstances also received an increase of over P32 billion, and the Department of Health’s Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially-Incapacitated Patients got P49.2 billion more in the GAB.
A massive chunk of the realigned funds went to TUPAD, a program with the very vague objective of augmenting the income of minimum-wage earners.
In the 2025 budget, TUPAD received P12.1 billion, and in the 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP), its proposed funding stayed close to that level.
After congressional realignments, TUPAD’s budget nearly doubled as lawmakers added around P14 to P15 billion sourced mainly from flood control projects, bringing the total House-approved allocation to roughly P26.9 billion for 2026.
In the 2025 budget, AICS was allotted P44.75 billion. In the 2026 National Expenditure Program submitted by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the proposed AICS budget was decreased to P26.9 billion.
During budget deliberations, the House realigned P32 billion, mostly from flood control projects, to the AICS, pushing the total allocation in the House-approved 2026 General Appropriations Bill to P59.5 billion.
According to budget watchdog InciteGov, the current schemes are inefficient, duplicative and politically mediated.
A business leader said the ayuda schemes foster the wrong priorities in the use of public funds.
“Think about it: why would anyone strive for success when just sitting back can get you a handout? Why should hardworking Filipinos, who sweat and toil every day, carry the burden for those who simply choose not to contribute? We aren’t building a nation of self-reliant individuals; we’re inadvertently creating a generation hooked on welfare, fostering a dangerous cycle of dependency,” according to prominent Visayan executive John Gaisano.
Hard-earned tax money, “the very fruits of our labor, should be a powerful investment in a thriving society,” Gaisano said.
Instead of cash handouts, the government should invest in solid infrastructure and genuinely affordable, government-subsidized public transportation that would make the people’s daily commutes easier and cheaper.
With the infrastructure buildup reeling from the upheaval caused by the flood control scandal, reallocating funds to cash handouts merely shifts the pork barrel from one receptacle to another, preserving its patronage-driven purpose.
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