Housecleaning starts

The daunting task of scrutinizing the proposed 2027 national budget falls on Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, with support from budget watchdogs who have flagged thousands of projects in the House version that allegedly lacked clear documentation or justification.

The review gained momentum after Ejercito declared that projects without complete supporting documents would be removed from the spending bill before it reaches the plenary debates.

The commitment followed his meeting on Friday with newly appointed Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Giovanni Lopez and his predecessor, Vince Dizon.

Ejercito then sent Lopez a letter setting 3 November as the deadline for submitting the complete documents and reasons for the 6,271 projects that appeared in the House-approved General Appropriations Bill (HGAB) but were not in the National Expenditure Program (NEP), or the initial budget the President sent to Congress.

The scale of the problem became clear when the finance panel’s staff compared the NEP with the House bill and found that the number of DPWH projects had ballooned from 11,420 to 16,244.

The country badly needs a budget for roads, bridges and flood defenses, but it cannot trade away reform since every delayed project costs the economy, and every poorly checked infrastructure project costs even more, leaving threatened communities unsafe and eroding public trust.

The senator’s worry stems from previous budget hearings, where he pointed out 155 flood control projects worth P8.2 billion that lacked the required papers, such as a certificate of implementability, a program of works and geotagged photographs.

All these documents are required under the stricter checks put in place while the 2027 NEP was being drawn.

The checks were in response to the flood control scandal, where public money meant to protect communities from floods was found to have gone to doubtful projects designed for kickbacks.

The watchdogs on 26 October told Ejercito’s finance panel that, by their count, nearly 7,000 projects worth about P190 billion in the House-approved budget had sprouted outside the NEP without the papers to support them.

The groups then warned that if the House budget passes as is, without a way for citizens and media to check the supporting papers, the country may see a sequel to the Floodgate racket.

The civic groups asked the House Appropriations Committee to publish a full list of changes, with the old and new amounts, the reason for each, where each change came from and how each was approved, and to release the papers showing the need for the project.

The Senate finance panel has now lined up for deletion any insertion that fails a technical review and public checking.

Ejercito’s demand puts the burden of proof on the agency and sets a date after which projects without supporting papers will be cut. Both Lopez and Dizon told him the DPWH would cooperate fully and enforce the vetting so that questionable items are removed before the budget reaches the plenary debates.

To end the practice of inserting pet projects into the national budget, Ejercito also filed Senate Bill 2, or the Masterplan for Infrastructure and National Development Act.

The measure seeks to establish a long-term, comprehensive infrastructure plan to guide national development beyond changes in administration, ensuring that projects are selected based on public need rather than political expediency.

The finance committee faces a daunting task, but it can draw on the expertise of private sector budget specialists.

Together, they may yet achieve what many Filipinos have come to regard as impossible: a budget that puts the people first.