De Lima: SC ruling on standby funding significant win for accountability

MANILA, Philippines — Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima on Wednesday hailed the ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) restricting unprogrammed funding as a major victory for fiscal transparency.

However, de Lima voiced regret that the tribunal stopped short of striking down standby funds altogether.

On Tuesday, the SC ruled that key provisions 2024, 2025 and 2026 national budgets breached constitutional spending limits when lawmakers unilaterally inflated the executive’s request for unprogrammed funds.

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De Lima, a co-petitioner in one of the cases partially granted by the high court, thanked the SC for “setting clear constitutional limits” on the funding that was originally meant “to be a standby, not a slush fund.”

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“The Court has put it back in its proper place,” she said in a statement.

Designed as a contingency tool, unprogrammed appropriations (UA) are standby funding that the government can only access only when revenue collections exceed targets or when loans are secured.

These standby budget lines have been earmarked primarily to cover counterpart funding for foreign-backed infrastructure projects, and support the military’s modernization program.

READ: SolGen to appeal SC ruling declaring 2024, 2025 budgets unconstitutional

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“Starting with the 2022 General Appropriations Act (GAA), the UA was growing out of control,” de Lima, the chamber’s senior deputy minority leader, said.

“It became a holding area for pork, where lawmakers could park projects, create artificial fiscal space, and redirect hundreds of billions to their pet allocations,” she pointed out.

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“The Supreme Court has now closed that backdoor,” she emphasized. 

A ‘long-overdue’ check

In a separate statement, ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio said the top court’s ruling is a “welcome, significant and long-overdue check on both branches.”

He urged the House to recall House Bill No. 10858, the spending bill approved by the chamber which is now before the Senate.

Tinio asked the House to overhaul its standby funding provisions, which, he warned, mirror those budgets declared unconstitutional by the SC.

The deputy minority leader said “the Senate could also correct these provisions.” 

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“If HB 10858 remains unamended, some provisions of the 2027 national budget risk being declared unconstitutional once again,” he said in Filipino. /apl