Incorrigible House
The country’s image concerning its commitment to development is also affected by the House’s misuse of the budget.
Even before the first meeting of the Senate Finance Committee to scrutinize the 2027 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), panel chairperson Senator JV Ejercito bared several kinks when the proposal that the House submitted was compared to the National Expenditure Program (NEP).
The NEP is the raw copy of the Executive’s, or the President’s, budget.
Coming early and from the head of the body that will review the budget, the Senate expects that the insertions that brought tears to the shameless House leadership will be mostly expunged.
The Senate will devote its full time this month to reviewing and passing the GAB before resuming the impeachment trial, another badge of the House’s destabilizing presence after wasting three months of proceedings only to drop three of the four articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte.
Ejercito’s initial review showed foreign-assisted projects lost P130 billion. Removed were counterpart funds for projects that received multilateral official development assistance loans, which come with very concessional terms to help the country develop.
The gains that should have come from the loans were effectively lost because of the delays, and the government will have to pay commitment fees running into hundreds of millions of pesos.
Ejercito said he will enlist budget watchdogs to turn the GAB inside out, particularly to examine the huge decreases in flagship railway projects such as the Metro Manila Subway, which fell by P19.7 billion, and the North-South Commuter Railway, which lost P15 billion.
“From my perspective, the longer we delay all of this, the more it will disadvantage the government. These things are obligations because of the loan grants from the Asian Development Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency,” he said.
The country’s image with regard to its commitment to development is also affected by the House’s misuse of the budget.
“When Japanese officials visited here several times, they pointed this out. The longer we delay, the more expensive it will be for us, right? There are commitment fees we have to pay if there are delays, plus inflation and other factors,” Ejercito warned.
Ejercito’s concern stems from his advocacy to spur development by expanding rail projects across the country.
The initial review of the GAB showed a veneer of transparency that failed to stop the onslaught of desperation from House members whose attention is fixed on the 2028 national polls.
Insertions mean sources of kickbacks to raise campaign money and line pockets.
Ejercito also found other appalling juggling. The right-of-way funds essential to development projects were cut by 2.6 billion. While construction and maintenance, including rehabilitation and road widening, were increased by P13 billion, and flood mitigation structures rose by P8.04 billion.
Following the Floodgate scandal, it was proposed that the Department of Public Works and Highways complete all substandard and ghost projects before building new structures.
“We’ll check because I want to know how many will be done and where. The budget process is a balancing act and, yes, it can increase or decrease at times. The important thing is we need to be sure to understand the changes, the reasons behind them, the purpose, and where or how the funds will be allocated,” Ejercito said.
The senator also said private groups would play an extensive role in the review.
“We’ve encouraged civil society groups and watchdogs to take part, even up to the bicameral conference committee. We’ll let them in to help us spot any red flags they might notice and report to us,” he said.
The Senate panel now faces the task of cleaning up the mess the House made of the General Appropriations Bill.