Senate leadership resists call to return House-approved budget, says bicam to address questionable allocations

Senate leadership on Friday pushed back against calls from Makabayan bloc lawmakers to recall the House-approved 2027 spending plan, warning of possible delays that could force a reenactment of the budget.

Senate President Win Gatchalian said a recall is “not necessary” as senators can make the corrections and budget adjustments during the upcoming consolidation process, without disrupting the timetable, especially since the Senate already concluded the subcommittee hearings earlier this week.

In the same vein, Senator Ping Lacson suggested that the Senate could just remove unnecessary allocations in the House’s version of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) since lawmakers could still reach a compromise and iron out diverging provisions in the bicameral conference committee.

"The effect of that is a reenactment budget, which is worse. That is not the solution,” Lacson asserted. “The solution is for the Senate to scrutinize and cut all the fat from the House’s GAB.”

A reenacted budget would mean the government would operate under the previous year’s budget until Congress passes the new GAB and the President signs it into law.

A reenacted budget could slow the economy and hinder the delivery of government services, as new programs and projects would lack funding.

The recall proposal follows a recent Supreme Court ruling that declared the 2024 and 2025 budgets unconstitutional and struck down certain provisions of the 2026 budget, particularly those authorizing the use of unprogrammed appropriations (UA) derided by critics as the “new pork.”

Gatchalian said that because only a few provisions of this year’s budget would be affected by the decision, senators do not expect major changes or corrections in 2027 spending outlay, since they are adopting the same fiscal prudence applied to the 2026 budget.

Makabayan bloc lawmakers argued that the 2027 budget version passed by the House still contains countless provisions already deemed unconstitutional by the high court, which should be rectified before the bicam to prevent sweeping last-minute revisions seen in previous budgets.

For decades, bicam proceedings have been held behind closed doors, allowing select lawmakers from the House and the Senate to introduce amendments to the national budget unchecked, without public scrutiny.

It was not until last year that the bicam was livestreamed after Congress became the target of corruption allegations over the alleged blunders in the 2025 GAA, which has been derided as the “most corrupt” budget for containing bloated UA.

The SC ruled that the 2024 and 2025 budgets were “severely distorted” because Congress increased the UA by P449.5 billion and the DPWH’s Special Road Fund by P17.99 billion, effectively inflating the President’s recommended budget under the National Expenditure Program.

Senate to cut P2B from budget

As a result, the SC “permanently prohibited” both chambers of Congress, the Office of the Executive Secretary, and the Department of Budget and Management from implementing the UA-struck-down provisions in the 2026 GAA.

Opposition House lawmakers have long called the UA a “conduit for corruption,” claiming that billions in funding for anomalous flood control projects and other infrastructure programs were sourced there.

After mounting criticism and the SC decision, Lacson said the Senate is considering cutting P2 billion from its proposed P7.7 billion 2027 budget to promote fiscal discipline.

According to Lacson, the proposed cut will not affect the Senate's operations, as it can still use unused funds from the 2026 budget.

He urged the House to follow suit, noting the P5 billion increase in its proposed budget.

Senators have flagged the House’s GAB as it already deviates from the NEP after lawmakers realigned P206 billion from the original P7.2 trillion spending plan.

Senate finance committee chair JV Ejercito lamented that sweeping changes to next year's proposed budget left flagship railway and healthcare budgets severely reduced, while flood control allocations surged by another P8.04 billion.

Ejercito vowed the Senate will not rubber-stamp the House-approved GAB and will scrutinize the budget line by line to prevent irregularities or duplicate entries.

Budget watchdog People’s Budget Coalition also flagged the House’s GAB over 7,054 projects worth a staggering P190 billion that were allegedly inserted into the Department of Agriculture's budget to fund, among others, farm-to-market roads (FMR) with coordinates located in the sea.

For FMR alone, the coalition said the House inserted 355 entirely new projects worth nearly P6 billion that were “completely absent from the National Expenditure Program and the Department of Agriculture’s proposal.”

The flagged programs include a P23-million FMR supposedly located in Nueva Ecija, but its coordinates point to an area in the ocean near Benham Rise.

Another FMR worth P30 million was allegedly found in the Celebes Sea near Indonesia, even though the line item allegedly shows the project was intended for Cebu.

A whopping P55 million FMR was also purportedly pointed to an area near Brunei, rather than the intended project location in Quezon.