House deliberates on 2027 budget this week

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has vowed transparency as it begins deliberations on the proposed P7.2-trillion national budget for 2027 this week.

House appropriations panel chairperson Nueva Ecija Rep. Michaela Suansing scheduled deliberations to begin on Aug. 17, less than a week after the executive branch submitted the budget proposal to the chamber on Aug. 11, according to Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr.

The deliberations will begin with a briefing by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) on the sources of financing, expenditure levels and the budget proposals of departments, agencies and government-owned and controlled corporations.

The DBCC is composed of the departments of budget; economy, planning and development; finance and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The briefing will kick off a 53-day timetable targeted at securing House approval of the proposed budget by Oct. 9.

The appropriations panel will then be briefed by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).

Abante said the House leadership has committed to make the budget process transparent, pointing out that the public deserves to know how the money will be spent.

“No secrets. The public should know,” he said.

According to the DBM, the agencies and sectors with the largest allocations for next year’s budget are education with P976 billion; public works P644 billion (including over P100 billion for flood control); health P353.8 billion (including PhilHealth); local government P332.5 billion; defense P328.8 billion; transportation P302.2 billion;

Agriculture gets P261.7 billion; social welfare P241.6 billion; state universities and colleges (SUCs) P176.5 billion and the judiciary P86.3 billion.

House secretary-general Cheloy Garafil said a nationwide public consultation initiative “LegisHear” will help craft the country’s spending plan as inputs gathered from communities can guide legislators on the actual needs and priorities across the country.

She said the program goes beyond discussions on individual bills and provides the House another avenue for hearing directly from Filipinos as lawmakers exercise the power of the purse.

“It’s important for the legislature to look at the people so that the people will be able to also give their inputs. That’s why we’re going around the country,” she said during the Visayas launch of LegisHear at Negros Oriental State University in Dumaguete City.

House Speaker Faustino Dy III said the chamber would subject the proposal to rigorous scrutiny and ensure that government spending produces concrete benefits for ordinary Filipinos.

“We will ask the agencies how much money they need and how they plan to spend it,” he said.

Garafil said South Cotabato and Capiz are being eyed as the next destinations of LegisHear in September as the chamber expands the program across the country.

She said the House would take a one-week break from the consultations to assess the results of the initial three legs and identify ways to further improve the program before taking LegisHear to more provinces.

Senate transparency

Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian trusts finance committee chairman JV Ejercito to continue his transparency measures regarding the national budget and ensure there would be no “leadership fund” or any “allocables” in the national outlay.

Gatchalian told radios dwIZ and dzMM he is not aware of any leadership fund ranging from P500 million to P1 billion per senator in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget, as claimed by former DPWH secretary Manuel Bonoan during the latter’s testimony at the Sandiganbayan. — Marc Jayson Cayabyab