The unprogrammed appropriations (UA), marred by corruption allegations in recent years, will not be scrapped by the Senate in the 2027 budget unless the Supreme Court issues a temporary restraining order (TRO), as several petitions challenging their legality remain pending.

Senate President Win Gatchalian made the assertion on Sunday ahead of the marathon deliberations for next year’s proposed P7.2-trillion budget, slated for the last week of August in the Senate, while the House of Representatives will begin hearings today, Monday.

The administration proposed P111.2 billion in UA in the 2027 budget, the last budget to be fully utilized by President Marcos Jr. before the next presidential election in May 2028. Although the amount was deemed a “historic low” for UA since 2019, budget watchdogs argued that it remains substantially high and susceptible to corruption. 

“As long as there is no TRO or resolution, it will proceed. The presumption of regularity applies. There is nothing indicating that it is prohibited, so the unprogrammed [appropriations] will continue,” Gatchalian said in a mix of Filipino and English in a radio interview. 

Recently, the SC concluded a series of oral arguments on the constitutionality of UA in the 2024, 2025, and 2026 GAAs, though it has yet to hand down its ruling.

The UA are standby funds that can only be tapped when the government collects more revenue than expected, or when grants and foreign funds are available. Typically, the UA is tapped for emergencies or when infrastructure projects, social aid programs, and other needs arise.

The Senate leader, however, vowed that the Senate will meticulously review the composition of the UA, where lump-sum allocations are prominent, and ensure that all projects are itemized. 

A lump sum is a pool of funds allocated for a program or group of projects that lacks specific, detailed line-item breakdowns, giving lawmakers and agencies too much discretion over how public funds are spent after the budget is passed. 

A staggering P141 billion that reportedly financed corruption-plagued flood control projects in 2023 and 2024 budgets was allegedly drawn from the UA, now being linked to “ghost”, substandard, and duplicate budgets.

Gatchalian, who chaired the Senate committee on finance last year that oversaw the 2026 budget, admitted that certain flood control projects were loaded into the UA in the past, as investigations have made evident. Although he noted that members of the Senate were unaware of the scheme. 

“We were all surprised to learn that the funds were being sourced from there because when we initially examined the GAA, we could not locate them. Upon analysis, we discovered that aside from the allocations in the programmed [appropriations] in the GAA, they also tapped unprogrammed [appropriations], which we, in the Senate, were unaware of,” he explained.

Nevertheless, Gatchalian emphasized that not all lump sums are inherently questionable, as they can, legally, be used for calamities or unforeseen events. 

Senator Ping Lacson flagged questionable lump-sum allocations in the proposed 2027 budget over the weekend, which are allegedly intended to bankroll infrastructure projects anew.

The proposed UA for next year accounts for 1.5% of the total budget. Still, critics have called for the UA to be scrapped entirely over transparency and corruption concerns, as seen in recent budgets.

The UA, deemed by opposition lawmakers a conduit for corruption, has allegedly swelled to unprecedented levels since 2023—Marcos’ first full year in office—reaching nearly P2 trillion, though P168.2 billion was reportedly part of the vetoed items in the 2025 GAA. 

The 2025 GAA was initially pegged at P6.352 trillion but was subsequently reduced to P6.326 trillion after President Marcos vetoed P194 billion worth of line items deemed inconsistent with his administration's priority programs, including P16.7 billion for flood control.

In this year’s budget, the UA was initially pegged at a whopping P243 billion, but it was trimmed to P150.9 billion after Marcos vetoed P92.5 billion, or more than one-third of what Congress approved.

Critics and watchdogs have alleged that lawmakers deliberately bumped the administration's flagship projects to the UA during the closed-door bicam to make room for their pet projects, including infrastructure and flood control projects susceptible to kickbacks. 

Among the flagship projects derailed by the scheme are the Metro Manila Subway Project and the North-South Commuter Railway, with estimated costs of P488.5 billion and P873.6 billion, respectively, for a combined price tag of P1.4 trillion.

The new Senate leadership under Gatchalian has committed to upholding transparency in reviewing the proposed budget for 2027, promising strict safeguards, such as prohibiting “leadership funds” and last-minute insertions, and will hold the bicam—traditionally closed-door and away from public scrutiny—livestreamed.