Marcos’ budget transparency ‘all for show,’ says Tinio
The lawmaker said genuine transparency required dismantling the mechanisms that allow such insertions, rather than simply putting cameras on the proceedings.
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The lawmaker said genuine transparency required dismantling the mechanisms that allow such insertions, rather than simply putting cameras on the proceedings.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should stop treating budget transparency as a show and should dismantle the mechanisms that allow pork barrel insertions to survive, ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio said.
As deliberations on the P7.2-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2027 begin Monday, Tinio warned against another round of what he called “performative” transparency, after the administration livestreamed Bicameral Conference Committee (Bicam) meetings during the 2026 budget process.
“We need true transparency in the budget process, not the same spectacle that the President himself announced last year. When Marcos Jr. announced that the Bicam meetings for the 2026 budget would be livestreamed, many in the public thought that there would be change,” Tinio said.
“What happened? The pork barrel insertions and bloated Unprogrammed Appropriations remained intact,” he added.
Tinio said livestreaming the proceedings amounted to little more than “damage control” if the same budgetary practices continued behind the cameras.
“Livestreaming won’t remove the pork in the 2027 national budget. Even if they livestream the bicam again, the unprogrammed appropriations and other forms of pork barrel will remain intact,” he said.
He cited the P48-billion Local Government Support Fund inserted during the previous bicameral deliberations as an example of what he described as another form of pork barrel.
People ‘robbed’
The lawmaker said genuine transparency required dismantling the mechanisms that allow such insertions, rather than simply putting cameras on the proceedings.
“The Marcos administration cannot hide behind performative transparency while perpetuating the same corrupt budgetary practices that have robbed the people of genuine public services and development,” he said.
The same demand for scrutiny will extend to the Office of the Vice President, despite the Senate’s and House’s ongoing impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte.
House Assistant Majority Leader and Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said the House would continue to afford the OVP due respect during the budget process but would not shield it from questions over how public funds would be used.
“Respect is there, but it does not also mean that she should be immune from questions; that we disallow or preclude members of the Appropriations Committee from asking questions about certain matters pertaining to her budget,” Adiong said.
As in the previous year, Duterte was invited to participate in the budget deliberations but did not attend. Adiong said the OVP budget would nonetheless be considered during floor deliberations.
Appear, Sara urged
He said agencies seeking public funds have a responsibility to appear before lawmakers and explain how they would use their proposed allocations.
“If no one asks us about the budget, that is also dereliction of our duty because we are being paid by taxpayers’ money to precisely ask these agencies where and how they implement these programs and projects that we approved,” he said.
Despite Duterte’s absence during the 2026 budget discussions, Adiong said the House still hoped she would attend the upcoming deliberations on the 2027 NEP.
“What is important is that the House of Representatives expects and hopes that she will attend the coming budget deliberation,” he said.
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