Ayudanomics on steroids

Deliberations on the 2027 General Appropriations Bill are expected to conclude Monday, when the plenary will consider the measure. The way House members are celebrating offers a clue as to who stands to benefit from the spending plan.

Soft pork has fattened the proposed budget ahead of the 2028 elections, with select House members making the changes behind closed doors.

The long list of “ayuda,” or cash assistance programs, that can build political patronage was already in the National Expenditure Program, or the President’s budget.

But these allocations were substantially increased after going through the Budget Amendments and Review Subcommittee, a panel under the House Committee on Appropriations.

The President’s total proposal for the key ayuda programs in 2027 was P109 billion, while the House version placed it at P181 billion. In 2026, these programs stood at P188 billion.

According to budget watchdogs, Congress added P21 billion to cash doles in 2021, P29 billion in 2022, and P37 billion in 2023.

It then added P105 billion in 2024, which was the year before the 2025 elections, and P69 billion in 2025.

People have been conditioned to expect ayuda in exchange for their support for those who distribute it. That culture of handouts now consumes a growing share of the Marcos administration’s budget, leaving less fiscal space for development spending.

The 2027 budget is P7.2 trillion, but only about P1.15 trillion can be freely allocated because debt interest, salaries, and local government shares are fixed by law. Debt interest alone is P1.114 trillion.

About 37 percent of the free money goes to ayuda and local projects, so schools, health, and long-term investments must fight for what is left, which explains the 64-percent reduction in school building funds from last year.

Under the old Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the pork was one line item that people could see and criticize.

After the Supreme Court struck down the PDAF, it mutated into many forms. Hard pork is infrastructure, such as the flood control projects at the center of the current scandal; soft pork is ayuda, which is medical and cash aid, and food packs that reach people only after a politician signs a guarantee letter.

The Local Government Support Fund is the newer form, and the proposed national budget multiplied it by four or five times.

Malacañang decides who gets it. For instance, Batangas, the home province of a key official, ranks very high among recipients.

Shadow pork sits in the Unprogrammed Appropriations, a standby fund with no clear list of projects.

Pretensions of transparency at the House were recently shattered by revelations that the real intention was to hide crucial moments from the media and watchdogs.

Closed meetings were held where budget items were juggled. The result was a smooth script, and no one objected.

Civil society was invited to the hearings, but it was given only three minutes per group, and the House panel did not respond to the letters it sent. The middle step, where the House and Senate alter the budget, is the one part the public cannot see.

Since cash aid has become the preferred form of pork, infrastructure allocations in 2027 suffered and were distributed based on political persuasion.

Lawmakers who voted against the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte received crumbs in the projects equation.

Unconditional aid differs from programs such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), which ties assistance to conditions such as school attendance and regular health checkups.

Handouts or alms, by contrast, can foster the perception that recipients owe politicians for cash that actually comes from taxpayers and is meant to fund public services the government is already obligated to provide.

In effect, taxpayers foot the bill while the politicians take credit for the payout. That is how the cookie crumbles.