SCUTTLEBUTT

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) can’t escape culpability for the perversion of the 2025 national budget, since it is responsible for releasing the funds for all projects.

It is supposed to review the budgets submitted by the various agencies. It also has the authority to review and ensure that the budgeting process is followed.

The DBM’s participation makes the government a syndicate that manipulates the budget. The DBM can’t wash its hands of this corruption mess, according to a budget watchdog.

The DBM identifies which among the items in the unprogrammed appropriations (UA) will be funded.

Projects in the UA are contingent on the availability of extra funds, such as revenues beyond the budget target, proceeds from new borrowings, or, recently, by sweeping up funds from government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs).

The DBM is also responsible for raising funds to finance “ghost” and substandard projects, according to a government source.

The pork barrel is illegal. The function of representatives and senators is to make laws and discuss policy, but they have retained the role of identifying specific projects. They recognize it. They’re talking about it. They call it the allocable portion.

In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), or pork barrel, was illegal. Still, greedy members of Congress became more creative over the decades to resurrect the pork.

Legislators now submit the projects they want funded to the agencies. That still creates opportunities because it’s like saying to the legislators, “We’re going to guarantee that all these items get funding.”

So that’s where the rent-seeking comes in. A congressman can easily say, “Oh, I’m going to push for this flood control project.”

The prospect of what happened in 2025 happening again in 2026 is very high, according to an economist.