Fat crocs devour budget

Of the P4.5-trillion proposed budget under the 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP), the House of Representatives added a combined P198.9 billion to 123 line items and cut 87 others by the same amount. The Constitution requires this zero-sum adjustment, meaning every increase must be offset by a corresponding reduction elsewhere.

Again, as in previous House budgets, foreign-assisted projects (FAPs) took the hit. The House cut P130 billion from FAPs while retaining Unprogrammed Appropriations (UA) at the original P112 billion proposed in the NEP.

The other items slashed were the Pension and Gratuity Fund (P10 billion), the calamity fund’s reconstruction assistance to local government units (P7.8 billion), and the Department of Health’s family health and immunization items (P4.9 billion) and Health Facilities Enhancement Program (P4.5 billion).

Funding for the Department of Education’s computerization and classroom lines, support to operations, and the Philippine Reclamation Authority’s (PRA) exhibition center were also reduced.

Cutting immunization funding by more than half while increasing Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients created a trade-off that favored a referral-based benefit over a public health entitlement.

The DoH’s Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) was also decreased, which budget watchdogs said runs counter to six straight years in which Congress raised the amount for the scheme.

Watchdogs are still tracking the fund’s movement, but they suspect money intended for health facilities moved into DPWH’s kickback-rich multipurpose buildings.

The additions were concentrated in the 10 largest increases — which account for P154 billion of the P199 billion added — and the 10 largest cuts account for P137 billion of the P199 billion removed.

Some 38 lines that had no amount in the NEP now total P18.2 billion, the largest of which is the P10 billion Presidential Assistance to Farmers and Fisherfolk, which Congress created recently.

The Budget Amendments and Review Subcommittee of the House of Representatives released tables that were read into the livestream on 1 October and totaled P116.3 billion of additions.

The committee report showed P199 billion. The difference is almost entirely in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) section, where the subcommittee announced a P11.5-billion net increase, but the bill shows P98 billion added to some lines and P86 billion taken from others.

Four lines account for 61 percent of everything the House added: the two Basic Infrastructure Program lump lines in DPWH (multipurpose buildings P42.7 billion and access roads P29.2 billion), Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (P24.8 billion), and Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) (P24 billion).

The NEP maintained the AICS and MAIFIP at the executive’s 2026 proposal levels, but the House ramped these up to P58.1 billion and P48.2 billion, respectively, which were within a few billion of what Congress enacted for 2026.

Add the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers, the Presidential Assistance for Farmers and Fisherfolk, Tulong Dunong, and financial assistance to local government units, and the ayuda programs account for about P69 billion of the additions.

The House appropriations panel reported 20 of the 95 foreign-assisted lines in the bill were cut and none was raised.

Foreign-assisted appropriations fell from P414.8 billion to P284.8 billion, a cut of P130 billion that accounted for 65 percent of everything the House chopped off the budget.

The DPWH’s foreign-assisted lines lost 62 percent of their NEP amount, from P117.7 billion to P44.7 billion; rail and transport loans lost P42.8 billion.

The rest is spread across World Bank and Asian Development Bank projects in the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Education, Department of Information and Communications Technology, Department of Agriculture, the Civil Service Commission, DoH and Department of Agrarian Reform.

FAPs are signed loans. According to watchdog People’s Budget Coalition, cutting the appropriation does not cancel the loan; it delays drawdowns, and the government pays commitment fees on undrawn balances in the meantime.

Since the loan proceeds can only be spent on the project they finance, the House used the borrowing room the NEP had reserved for these projects to fund general spending.

Simply put, delaying local counterpart financing for critical projects shelves loans already incurred to make way for legislator-backed pursuits.

In sum, the raising of pork-barrel spending under past UAs had generated public outrage, prompting the House to look for other ways to shift funds, which is now worse because the FAPs no longer have a standby appropriation to fall back on.

The methods change, but the predators of public funds always find a way to keep their own pockets filled.