Bayan: Pork wins in Bicam

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) slammed the first day of Bicameral Conference Committee deliberations on the proposed P6.7-trillion 2026 national budget, calling it a “triumph of pork barrel over the people’s needs.”

“The opening round of the Bicam deliberations made one thing clear: pork barrel has once again won, while transparency, accountability, and urgent public needs were left by the wayside,” Bayan said in a statement on Sunday.

Instead of heeding calls to slash or substantially trim patronage programs, the Bicam expanded funding for two of the most notorious channels of political pork: farm-to-market roads and the Department of Health’s (DoH) medical assistance program.

Farm-to-market roads, initially set at P16 billion, were boosted to a staggering P33 billion after just a two-hour deliberation. Bayan warned this move entrenches a program “long plagued by overpricing, substandard implementation, and politically dictated project lists.”

“The senators seemed largely clueless about where the extra funding would go. Some expressed reservations but went along with it anyway,” Bayan added.

To make matters worse, a House member reportedly asked the Department of Agriculture to revise its road masterplan to accommodate even more areas — a move Bayan described as “ominous.”

The DoH’s Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) Program also saw its budget jump to P51 billion, up from P42 billion in 2025, despite widespread calls from civil society groups to cut all pork-laden allocations.

“Instead of defunding this long-abused system, which relies on politicians’ guarantee letters to access medical aid, the Bicam increased its allocation. MAIFIP will now receive more funding in 2026 than ever, cementing a patronage-driven system in healthcare,” Bayan said.