Senate finance panel chair JV Ejercito backed Malacañang’s decision to reinstate the budget for corruption-plagued flood control projects after recent heavy rains from the southwest monsoon caused massive flooding anew in several parts of the country.  

He, however, pointed out that the budget shall be confined to flood mitigation projects backed by comprehensive master plans, or those that are either stalled or already existing but require additional funding for maintenance.

“We can already see the effects of the flood control projects being halted.  Also, as I mentioned, the unintended consequence is the holding of these budgets,” the lawmaker from San Juan told ANC’s Headstart on Tuesday. “So all that has been started has to be completed.” 

The Senate received the 2027 National Expenditure Program detailing the line items for the proposed P7.2 trillion budget of the Marcos Jr. administration.

The amount was about 6 percent higher than this year's P6.793 trillion budget, potentially making it the highest budget ever passed in history.

Ejercito acknowledged that, while the government implemented “belt-tightening” measures as a safeguard, these measures inadvertently delayed infrastructure spending, which is necessary to accelerate economic growth.

This, he said, severely impacted the country’s economic growth, causing GDP growth to drop from nearly 7 percent to just 2 percent. 

“We have to strike a balance this time, [and] we have to make sure that public spending, the infrastructure spending, has to continue because we cannot sacrifice our growth, our economic development as well, in terms of infrastructure development against our ASEAN [neighbors],” he added.

This year’s budget contained zero funding for new locally funded flood control projects after President Marcos Jr. scrapped these line items following the discovery of systematic corruption between lawmakers, DPWH officials, and private contractors in the implementation of the projects. 

Recall that the DPWH’s proposed budget for the flood control projects for this year was initially pegged at over P249 billion, accounting for 30 percent of the agency’s proposed P881.3 billion budget. 

However, after the government uncovered a massive corruption scheme involving “ghost,” substandard, and duplicate projects, the DPWH’s budget was slashed to P530.9 billion, though the amount remained relatively high because the agency still ranked second with the highest budget allocation next to the education sector with P1.35 trillion, its largest budget to date.

Despite anomalies, Malacañang reinstated the budget for flood control projects under the DPWH for next year due to concerns that leaving unfinished infrastructure would cause worse flooding in the country and render previous public spending useless.

A whopping P107.4 billion is earmarked for flood control projects, accounting for 16 percent of the agency’s total proposed allocation totaling P644 billion. 

As a result, the DPWH remains the second-largest recipient of the proposed 2027 budget allocation.

Amid public concerns that corruption may recur, Ejercito, being chair of the powerful committee, vowed that he would not allow last-minute changes to the 2027 budget during the bicameral conference, which is traditionally held behind closed doors to bypass public scrutiny.

He insisted that lawmakers must propose and discuss any amendments to the budget during plenary sessions, which were held in public. 

“No more closed door…I am already announcing to everyone that I will not be allowing insertions and last-minute amendments during bicam,” he stressed. 

As part of transparency reforms, Ejercito said the Senate will push for bicameral proceedings to be open to the public through livestreaming and media coverage, similar to procedures adopted in the 2026 budget preparations.