Solons clash over HGAB

After the Supreme Court struck down the 2024 and 2025 national budgets as unconstitutional, the Senate and some House members are battling over the fate of the proposed 2027 budget, seen as a copy of the corruption-riddled spending plans.

The House of Representatives must recall the 2027 budget proposal to address issues observed in past budgets that were inserted during its recently concluded deliberations, ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio said.

The lawmaker said “significant parts” of the 2027 House General Appropriations Bill (HGAB) could be declared unconstitutional, particularly the triggers that would release the Unprogrammed Appropriations (UA).

The Senate leadership, however, pushed back, warning that delays could force a reenacted budget.

Senate President Win Gatchalian said a recall is “not necessary” because senators can make 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.

Senate finance committee chairperson JV Ejercito told Daily Tribune the Senate can make the corrections “and hopefully it will be resolved in the bicameral conference committee (Bicam).

“If it is returned, (there’s a) big chance we cannot pass the budget this year,” according to Ejercito.

He lamented that sweeping changes to next year’s proposed budget left flagship railway and healthcare budgets severely reduced. Meanwhile, flood control allocations surged by another P8.04 billion.

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

Similarly, Senator Panfilo Lacson suggested the Senate could remove unnecessary allocations in the HGAB since the lawmakers could still reach a compromise and iron out diverging provisions in the Bicameral Conference Committee (Bicam).

“The effect of that is a reenacted 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 means 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.

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 contained countless provisions already deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court ruling, which should be rectified before the bicam to prevent sweeping last-minute revisions that were 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.

Only last year was the bicam livestreamed after Congress became the target of corruption allegations over alleged blunders in the 2025 GAA, derided as the “most corrupt” budget for containing a bloated UA.

The SC recently 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 struck-down UA provisions in the 2026 GAA.

Opposition lawmakers and budget watchdogs have long called the UA a “conduit for corruption,” claiming it was the source of billions of pesos in funding for anomalous flood control projects and other infrastructure.

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 still had unused funds from the 2026 budget.

He urged the House to follow suit, noting that its proposed budget included a P5-billion increase.

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

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

For farm to market roads 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 farm to market road supposedly located in Nueva Ecija, but its coordinates pointed to an area in the ocean near Benham Rise.

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

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

Take responsibility

With the House’s version of the budget approved on 12 October and subsequently transmitted to the Senate, some lawmakers have said the upper chamber should address the issues on its own to prevent delays in passing the budget.

Tinio, however, maintained that the House should fix its own actions, noting that the process could finish relatively quickly with sufficient preparation ahead of its resumption of the regular session.

“As I said, I mean, in the end, of course, the Senate can just do the job. But I think it’s better that the House itself correct its own actions,” he said.

Section 105 of the Rules of the House of Representatives states that lawmakers who voted with the majority to approve the HGAB may move to reconsider an approved, adopted, or lost report or motion during the same or succeeding session day.

Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco said in a separate interview that the rule could apply to the House General Appropriations Bill, which the lower chamber approved during its last session day on 12 October. The House is set to resume its regular session on 9 November.

“I think it’s important and necessary so that the House can clean up its own mess. Why do I say that? Because if you look at the budget that the House passed, there are significant parts that could be declared unconstitutional as well,” Tinio said in a television interview.

He said he spearheaded a push in the lower chamber to amend the P7.2-trillion fiscal blueprint, warning that inaction could repeat the Supreme Court’s ruling on the 2024 and 2025 budgets.

Tinio said two GAAs under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration were deemed unconstitutional and that Congress should act as a whole to avoid a third voided budget.

Old budget tricks

In a separate interview, Davao City 3rd District Rep. Isidro Ungab flagged old practices resorted to in the 2024 and 2025 national budgets, particularly the massive decrease in funding for foreign-assisted projects (FAP).

Ungab said the House shifted allocations under the National Expenditure Program by P202 billion, including P131 billion from FAP.