‘Zero no more’: Cendaña lauds P75-M inserted fund for EDSA Busway project

Akbayan Partylist Rep. Perci Cendaña lauded the decision of the House Committee on Appropriations to insert P75 million in the proposed national budget of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for the EDSA busway project.

“This is a huge win, but this is far from the budget that was requested by the DOTr. We will continue to call for the increase in the budget of public transportation,” Cendaña wrote in a Facebook post.

The lawmaker was among the members of the House of Representatives that questioned the lack of allocation to the program under the 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP) despite the benefit that the busway has brought to the public.

A report from the DOTr revealed that the ridership of the EDSA busway had risen to 66.67 million from January to December of 2025, bumping its total since its inception in 2020 to 341.31 million.

The project had once served 321,186 passengers in a single day in April of the said year.

Cendaña likewise welcomed the addition of P500 million for the agency’s Service Contracting and Fuel Subsidy programs, both of which were initiatives that the government tapped during the height of the fuel crisis.

“Zero no more, but we have to keep fighting for more. The fight continues,” he said in Filipino.

The amendments to the NEP formed part of the P2.349 million insertion that the DOTr received from the Budget Amendment and Review Subcommittee (BARSc) which was conducted last Friday, 2 October.

Despite the move, some lawmakers and budget watchdogs have questioned particular amendments into the budget and labeled the same as “pork” over concerns that the amounts were subject to patronage.

Echoing the need for transparency in the budget, Cendaña urged the public to be wary of the entire process, before it is officially passed into law.

"We should continue to observe until the budget is taken to the Senate, Bicam, until the final version of the 2027 budget,” he stressed.