Budget violated again

Watchdogs are once again up in arms over the House budget bill, which passed amid appalling theatrics designed to obscure the pork insertions in the spending plan.

The House of Representatives appears to be living up to its reputation of having an insatiable appetite, with the latest budget maneuvering once again raising questions about how lawmakers manipulate the annual appropriations process to accommodate their priorities.

“We have lost trust in the House,” was the verdict of the groups that signed a petition to remove all embedded pet projects that will generate kickbacks for the 2028 elections.

“It feels like we’re writing Season 2 of the flood control scandal,” the groups said, lamenting that the elected officials were devoid of shame and had learned nothing from the recent scandals.

Despite the pretense, the budget manipulation was brazen, as the figures presented to the public differed from those actually approved by the House.

The panel on amendments read out its proposed changes to the national budget, totaling P116 billion, during a livestream.

According to budget watchdogs, when the committee released its report on 6 October, the total had ballooned to more than P200 billion, with no explanation or accounting for the additional P84 billion-plus in amendments.

Media covering the proceedings did not notice the deception, as many news reports still cited the P116-billion figure.

The ruse proved that livestreaming does not guarantee transparency.

The protesters indicated that more than P15 of every P100 in the national budget would go to questionable and discretionary items.

A total of P1.06 trillion in the House budget bill allocated by its members was for questionable items or budget lines vulnerable to political patronage and abuse.

These include P210 billion in aid and discretionary funds, P695 billion in infrastructure, P43 billion for political offices, and P112 billion in Unprogrammed Appropriations (UA).

The House added P83.5 billion to these categories. The patronage-tainted items, mostly ayuda, grew by half, from P140 billion to P210 billion.

The allocations were meant to entrench pork-barrel politics, giving politicians control over public access to services.

These items strip beneficiaries of their dignity and force them to beg for benefits they are entitled to under the law.

Because the budget is zero-sum, pet projects replaced legitimate items that were cut.

The biggest reduction, P130 billion, was taken from foreign-assisted projects, including the Metro Manila Subway, the North-South Commuter Railway, bypass roads and flood mitigation projects in major river basins.

These projects are backed by loans the country has signed. Slashing their allocations does not cancel the loans, but it delays the projects, while the country continues to incur more than a billion pesos in commitment fees and penalties.

The fiscal integrity guardians found that the House took borrowing room set aside for trains and national roads, which guarantees funding, and used it instead for handouts and local projects.

Legislative insertions thus ate up fiscal space.

Proposals from farmers, fisherfolk, commuters and students for meaningful programs were replaced with multipurpose buildings, access roads, and aid, totaling more than P200 billion.

Instead of receiving services and programs directly from the government, taxpayers now have to beg government officials for access, fostering indebtedness or political favors, which is ridiculous since the public is entitled to these rights.

There is no hope for a clean budget as members of Congress continue to treat the yearly spending plan as their personal wallet.