While government agencies formulate spending proposals based on data and planning requirements, he said congressional amendments can alter allocations once budgets enter the legislative process.
For Montesa, transparency is the key safeguard.
“We’re not against legislators, congressmen, and senators enacting a budget as they see fit,” he said.
“However, I think the process needs to be more transparent.”
That advocacy has taken the coalition beyond monitoring and into reform efforts.
Montesa pointed to engagements with lawmakers, including initiatives during the tenure of former Senate Finance Committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian that opened budget amendment tracking to public scrutiny and required local government units to submit documentation for certain spending proposals.
As leadership in Congress changes, Montesa said he hopes such reforms will continue.
“We hope that he will continue to make all of these public documents open,” he said of Senator Mark Villar.
But perhaps the coalition’s most consistent message is that budget oversight should not be left solely to government institutions.
Montesa has repeatedly pushed for a legislated and funded multisectoral body that could independently review infrastructure projects and budget controversies, arguing that public trust can only be rebuilt through greater transparency and citizen participation.
For him, accountability is not merely about investigating anomalies after they happen. It is about creating systems that allow citizens to follow public money every step of the way.
“They have to really change the system and show us that they deserve our trust again,” Montesa said.
