35 business groups urge removal of budget insertions

Thirty-five business groups have urged Congress to remove budget insertions without technical justification from the proposed P7.2-trillion national budget for 2027, citing concerns over transparency, project funding cuts and past irregularities in public spending.

In a joint statement dated 29 October, the groups, which include the Makati Business Club (MBC), Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) and Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX), among others, called on Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, House Speaker Faustino Dy III, Senate Finance Committee chair Joseph Victor Ejercito and House Appropriations Committee chair Mikaela Angela Suansing to remove unsupported additions from the budget.

“We welcome the commitments made by Senate President Gatchalian and Senator Ejercito that the Senate will scrutinize the House version line by line and will not accept last-minute insertions. We likewise acknowledge Speaker Dy’s pledge of an open budget process. We ask both chambers to honor these commitments in full,” they said.

The groups cited the House-approved General Appropriations Bill (HB 10858), which added more than P180 billion to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget through amendments by the Budget Amendments and Review Subcommittee. Independent budget watchdogs reported that the additions covered at least 6,000 projects, bringing the DPWH project count in the National Expenditure Program to at least 16,000.

“Many appear as lump sums for multi-purpose buildings and access and bypass roads, without published project lists or named proponents,” the coalitions said.

The additions were reportedly funded partly by cuts of about P130 billion from foreign-assisted projects, P9.5 billion from calamity funds, P1.76 billion from the EDSA Busway and P4.9 billion from health programs.

The groups said foreign-assisted projects were backed by feasibility studies, financing commitments and international procurement standards, warning that the cuts could delay infrastructure projects intended to reduce logistics costs and attract investments.

They also cited alleged ghost and substandard flood-control projects linked to budget insertions from 2023 to 2025, saying these had wasted public funds and left communities exposed to flooding.

The groups called on Congress to take five steps: remove insertions without a technical basis; restore funding for foreign-assisted projects, calamity funds, the EDSA Busway and health programs unless reductions are publicly justified; eliminate provisions allowing agencies to change projects after the budget is enacted; publish all amendments and their proponents before Senate voting and the bicameral conference; and prohibit new items from being introduced during the bicameral conference.

They said each budget item should be backed by a feasibility study or detailed engineering design, align with the implementing agency’s master plan and be validated as ready for implementation in 2027.

“Our call is not for delay. We support the timely passage of the 2027 budget and oppose a reenacted budget. A clean budget and a timely budget are not in conflict; the technical review needed to remove baseless insertions can be done within the current calendar,” the statement said.

The groups added that a budget free of politically driven insertions would strengthen investor confidence, protect the country’s fiscal space and ensure public funds go toward infrastructure, schools and health services.

“Public funds are the people’s money, raised from the taxes of every worker, consumer, and enterprise. Investors, at home and abroad, read the national budget as a statement of how seriously a government takes integrity and value for money,” the groups said.

“A budget free of politically driven insertions will strengthen investor confidence, protect the country’s fiscal space, and ensure that every peso builds the infrastructure, schools, and health services the nation truly needs.”