Ejercito files bills institutionalizing people’s participation in national, local budgeting

To institutionalize transparency and empower civil society in fiscal planning, Senator JV Ejercito has filed two legislative measures ensuring community-identified priorities are integrated into national and local government spending processes.

Ejercito’s proposed Senate Bill No. 2576, or the Bantay Budget Act, seeks to establish mechanisms for CSO participation in the preparation and authorization of the annual national budget.

Meanwhile, Senate Bill No. 2577, or the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Act, aims to institutionalize a bottom-up approach to development planning and budgeting, ensuring that community-identified needs and priority projects are incorporated into local and national government spending plans.

Ejercito, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance, said the measures seek to strengthen public oversight of government spending and ensure that ordinary Filipinos have a meaningful voice in determining how public funds are allocated and that these funds benefit the people they are intended to serve.

The senator from San Juan filed the proposed measures on Monday, following a consultation with various CSOs to discuss their budgetary priorities for the 2027 national budget.

"We want your participation to have a meaningful place in the scrutiny of the proposed budgets of our national government agencies, in the questions officials are asked to answer, and in the priorities we put forward," he told CSOs.

The Bantay Budget Act aims to establish clear mechanisms allowing accredited CSOs to participate in the budget process, from the preparation of agency budget proposals to congressional deliberations and authorization of the General Appropriations Act.

The proposal would require all national government agencies (NGAs) and government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs) whose budgets are included in the annual General Appropriations Act to establish guidelines for the accreditation and active participation of CSOs in budget preparation and authorization.

Accredited CSOs would be allowed to participate as resource persons in congressional budget hearings, submit position papers and alternative budget proposals, and present written recommendations on government projects and activities.

The bill also requires the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance to schedule at least one hearing day for accredited CSOs to present their positions on the proposed national budget.

The measure likewise allows CSOs to observe budget deliberations and bicameral conference committee proceedings, with records, stenographic notes, committee reports, and recordings of bicameral meetings made accessible to the public.

The Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Act, for its part, seeks to institutionalize Grassroots Participatory Budgeting (GPB), formerly known as Bottom-Up Budgeting (BUB), as a fundamental component of national budget preparation through consultations with accredited CSOs.

“It seeks to bring community-identified priorities into local and national budgeting. Layunin nating magsimula sa mga komunidad ang pagtukoy sa mga proyektong kailangan nila, at magkaroon ng malinaw na mekanismo upang maisama ang mga ito sa pagpaplano at paglalaan ng pondo hanggang sa national level,” Ejercito explained.

Under the bill, barangays, municipalities, cities, and provinces would be required to hold at least two consultation assemblies annually with accredited CSOs. The priorities identified would form the core of Local Poverty Reduction Action Plans, Local Development Investment Programs, and annual local budget proposals.

The measure also requires accredited CSOs to make up at least one-fourth of the membership of Local Development Councils at the provincial, city, municipal, and barangay levels.

“Taken together, these measures seek to give citizens a sustained voice in how priorities are set, how public funds are allocated, and how government programs are carried out. Ang hangad natin ay maging bahagi ng ating mga institusyon ang pakikilahok ng mamamayan, upang magpatuloy ito sinuman ang nakaupo,” he stressed.