House backslid on budget transparency reforms — Cendaña

MANILA, Philippines — Akbayan Rep. Percival Cendaña scored his fellow lawmakers for slighting budget watchdogs in this year’s budget review cycle as the House of Representatives moves forward in the process, saying the chamber seemingly made a “U-turn” amid spending discussions for 2027.

A minority lawmaker, Cendaña questioned why civil society organizations (CSO) were left out in the first weeks of budget talks, blocking their access to discussions despite sweeping reforms enacted last year to soothe outcry against so-called congressional insertions in the spending plan.

“It seems that while we were driving towards the right direction, this year, it appeared we suddenly took a U-turn,” he told lawmakers before the budget bill was debated on the floor.

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Budget watchdogs were shut out of House budget deliberations for a week before being allowed in. And lawmakers still faced criticism after civil groups said late notices and a lack of clear guidelines on proceedings hobbled their participation.

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Cendaña asked if allowing civil groups into budget talks was merely meant to sanitize the process, where congressional tweaks on the proposed budget were made under secrecy.

“Did we merely use CSOs and budget watchdogs to lend credibility to our process? Or are we truly sincere in letting the people know where every hard‑earned peso goes?”

The budget process underwent sweeping reforms last year to make scrutiny more open to the public after widespread criticism that past processes left room for insertions that feed into corruption. 

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Those reforms include abolishing a “small committee” of select lawmakers tasked with finalizing the House’s budget bill behind closed doors, an opaque process that hid late-stage revisions. 

In a statement, the People’s Budget Coalition said “trust in the budget process has been broken, and much has to be done to earn it back.” It added that insertions and corruption swelled in the past “because the process was closed to the public.”

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“The House should not slide back into old practice now,” the budget watchdog said, adding that it is prepared to “help” in deliberating the budget as the spending plan is being discussed on the floor.

“We hope that it’s not too late for the House leadership to take this matter seriously and act on it,” said Cendaña. /mr