2027 budget: Congress’ spending plan should be scrutinized – watchdog

MANILA, Philippines — Budget watchdog People’s Budget Coalition (PBC) on Thursday said Congress’ spending plan should have faced greater scrutiny after budget discussions for the legislature were terminated without any questions on the floor.

“Scrutiny should be even higher when Congress is deliberating its own budget,” PBC co-coordinator Gybel Agregado told the Inquirer in a text message.

She said civil society groups were blindsided when the House of Representatives suddenly rescheduled Congress’ budget debate, preventing them from attending the proceedings. The legislature’s spending plan talks had originally been set for Sept. 24.

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“With this urgent change in schedule for a major budget… civil society organizations were not given enough time to send representatives to attend in person and submit inputs and questions to the secretariat,” Agregado said.

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Budget watchdogs were informed that Congress’ budget would be tackled that day “at 8:20 a.m.,” she said. A correspondence to lawmakers informing them of the schedule change was sent at 2:05 a.m., according to an email seen by the Inquirer.

“Even if the Committee on Appropriations did not intend for this to happen, this is alarming and angering, even, because if anything, this standard of scrutiny should be even higher when Congress is deliberating its own budget,” Agregado said.

READ: 2027 budget: Tiangco wants House to undergo scrutiny

Congress’ P27.02 billion proposed funding for next year breezed through the lower chamber after no members, even from the minority bloc, which traditionally raises queries during national budget debates, questioned the measure.

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The Senate earmarked P7.7 billion while the House allotted P17.62 billion, and more than P1.6 billion combined for its electoral tribunals and appointments body.

“Last year, Congress quietly increased its own institutional budget by P10 billion – which for us is unconscionable given so many House members are being investigated for their involvement in the flood control scandal,” Agregado said.

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Congress’ budget talks on the floor “should be precisely where civil society’s voice is heard most,” she added. “If people are being investigated for stealing public funds, would you give them a raise or a bigger budget?”

The P7.2-trillion spending plan for next year is now on second reading in the House, where lawmakers can introduce tweaks to funding. The chamber aims to pass the budget by Oct. 9. /mcm