The House of Representatives on Monday, October 12, approved the proposed P7.2-trillion national budget for 2027 on third and final reading. The vote was 282 in favor, 13 against and one abstention. The measure now goes to the Senate.
The 2027 budget is about 6% larger than this year’s P6.793-trillion spending plan. It will also be the budget the government spends in the year before the 2028 national elections, and that timing is at the center of the criticism.
What Critics Are Flagging
Among those who voted no were Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima, ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio, Akbayan Rep. Percival Cendeña, Kabataan Rep. Renee Co, Gabriela Rep. Sara Elago, Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco and Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice. Most of them questioned the large allocations for ayuda or social assistance programs, which they said are prone to use for patronage politics. “This budget is not people-centered. It is election-centered,” De Lima said.
Tinio said his office’s review found that the House inserted 6,212 new infrastructure projects worth about P180 billion. That would bring public works line items to 16,720. According to his figures, the Ilocos Norte 1st District Engineering Office, which serves the district of House Majority Leader Sandro Marcos, got the largest net increase in the country at P4.38 billion. Davao City’s engineering offices, he said, were among the lowest-funded at about P40 million each. Tinio called it proof that “the pork barrel system as a carrot-and-stick is very much alive and kicking.” He asked House leaders to publish the full list of new projects and their proponents.
The People’s Budget Coalition, a civil society watchdog, also criticized the bill. It said public works money appeared to have moved from the DPWH central office to district offices. It also flagged a P130-billion cut to foreign-assisted projects such as the Metro Manila Subway and the North-South Commuter Railway. Because those projects run on loans the country has already signed, the group warned, the cuts could delay construction while the government still pays commitment fees. Some lawmakers also questioned the transparency of the amendments process, pointing to a review committee livestream that started hours late.
The Other Side
The budget’s managers reject the “pork” label. House appropriations committee chair Rep. Mikaela Suansing has said she can “categorically” state that there is no pork in the 2027 budget, including the Local Government Support Fund. Opposition lawmakers call that fund the “President’s pork.”
The Department of Budget and Management has made the same point. DBM Undersecretary Goddes Hope Libiran said earlier that “there is no appropriation identified as ‘pork barrel’” in the proposed spending program. She said the support fund has statutory and accountability safeguards and that requests come from local governments themselves. As of this writing, House leaders had not publicly answered Tinio’s district-by-district figures.
A public administration scholar noted that realignments are within Congress’s power and do not automatically mean corruption. What matters, he said, is who benefits and whether the process is transparent.
What's Next
The Senate is set to resume its own budget hearings on October 14. Senate President Win Gatchalian has warned that the bill must reach the plenary by November 9 to pass before year-end. If it doesn’t, the country would operate on a reenacted budget, which he said would be bad for the economy. Some analysts argue that a rushed budget, one that escapes scrutiny, is the bigger risk.
One year after the flood-control scandal, the question isn’t only how much is spent. It’s also who decides where the money goes, and whether the public gets to see it.
