Senator Panfilo Lacson is questioning why some infrastructure projects in the government's proposed 7.2-trillion-peso 2027 budget are funded through lump-sum allocations, saying Congress should know exactly where the money will go before approving it.

Lacson said he and his staff spotted the allocations while examining the National Expenditure Program submitted to Congress this week. He did not identify the agency, projects or amounts involved.

“We spotted lump sum appropriations that we don't think should be lump sum,” Lacson said in a radio interview. “If it's for infrastructure projects ... we will ask for details on the matter.”

Lacson said he could formally raise the issue at a Development Budget Coordination Committee briefing scheduled for Aug. 27.

The proposed budget is 6% larger than this year's 6.793 trillion pesos, with infrastructure and other economic services among the government's major spending priorities.

Lacson said lump-sum funding could be justified for calamity expenses, which are difficult to predict, but should be explained when used for infrastructure projects with identifiable locations and costs.

He also plans to examine special provisions that could potentially be used to expand unprogrammed appropriations, citing past budget provisions he described as “highly questionable” and later removed.

He said Senate Finance Committee Chairman JV Ejercito had assured him that he would not allow new items to be inserted during the bicameral conference stage unless they appeared in either the House or Senate versions.

“I hope this year that under Sen. JV's chairmanship, he will fulfill his promise not to allow insertions at the bicam level,” Lacson said.

He also questioned why local projects continue to be sought directly from lawmakers despite a 2025 executive order intended to give regional development councils a stronger role in national planning and budgeting.

Executive Order 82 requires national agencies to prioritize projects endorsed by regional development councils in their investment programs and annual budgets.

Yet Lacson said local officials were still approaching senators because projects they considered priorities were absent from the proposed budget.

“This early we see many mayors visiting the Senate, telling us that their projects did not make it to the NEP. There is a disconnect,” he said.