NUP airs party ‘discontent’ as House tackles 2027 budget

MANILA, Philippines — There is growing “discontent” among House members over the draft 2027 national budget, a party leader aligned with the majority bloc said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters, Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno said that within his National Unity Party (NUP), lawmakers have expressed frustration and demanded changes to the P7.2-trillion spending bill, which the chamber aims to pass by Oct. 9.

NUP members issued a party statement also on Wednesday calling for modifications on the budget bill’s provisions and urging the House leadership to address their “serious concern” over project implementations and social aid distribution in their districts.

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The party currently has 58 members in the chamber.

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‘Selective’ DPWH approach

The party said its members had grown concerned about “persistent reports of significant delays in the release of funding for infrastructure projects” financed by earlier budgets. It also called attention to what it described as the “uneven and selective” approach by the Department of Public Works and Highways in approving projects per district.

Delays in the release of funds also hit key social welfare initiatives, including nearly P300 million for the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s crisis assistance program and P120 million under the Department of Health’s medical grants for indigent patients, the NUP added.

“Let me just state that … the things we mentioned here affect other parties as well,” Puno said in a press conference held before the NUP convened an executive meeting on the matter.

“Have I heard of discomfort or discontent from other parties? Yes. Have we discussed it? No.”

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Not from these parties

Members of two other major political parties, however, gave a contrary observation when told of Puno’s statement.

“I haven’t heard any Lakas member who are particularly concerned about their district spending,” Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, a spokesperson for Lakas-CMD, told the Inquirer. Lakas-CMD which has more than 60 members in the House.

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“If there would be any major concerns, definitely, the party would convene and discuss matters pertaining to individual or collective concerns,” said Adiong. “There’s no call for such matters to discuss within the party. So there’s no major concern.”

Another lawmaker, from the ruling Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), but who asked not to be named, also said he has not heard of any such rumblings among the party’s 50-plus House members.

Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III belongs to PFP, the political party of President Marcos. The NUP’s grievances over the proposed budget echoed the frictions that emerged last year, when the party urged the House to return the spending plan to the executive branch. At the time, party members argued that extensive legislative rewrites risked triggering accusations of self-serving budget adjustments.

While wider discontent threatens to complicate final budget debates and could test the House leadership’s ability to marshal unity across key factions, lawmakers from the Nationalist People’s Coalition and Nacionalista Party did not reply to requests for comment. Attempts to reach out by phone call were left unanswered too.

‘We can disagree as gentlemen’

Puno emphasized that the party’s public complaint over district funding is not intended to jolt Dy’s leadership over the lower chamber, underscoring that the NUP is “swearing loyalty to the leadership.”

“We can disagree as gentlemen, we can disagree as civilized people without necessarily translating it into any of the unpleasant scenarios,” he said.

Dissatisfaction over district allocations or delays in their disbursement could make the budget bill’s “final stages more difficult” in the lower chamber, particularly if more lawmakers than share NUP’s sentiment, according to Ederson Tapia, a professor of public administration at the University of Makati.

“If the same concern is being raised across several parties, then naturally lawmakers will use the budget process to seek greater certainty on implementation,” he told the Inquirer in a text message. “This can affect how the final budget is negotiated, especially if members begin to feel that inclusion in the budget does not necessarily translate into actual delivery on the ground.”

Constituent support across hundreds of legislative districts nationwide is heavily tied to visible infrastructure works and social aid, and lawmakers face pressure to deliver on those projects to maintain support in their home district.

Puno said he already brought NUP’s district funding concerns to Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos III.

“My impression is that the majority leader is in sympathy with the position of NUP. That he is not happy when districts and congressmen are deprived of their ability to receive assistance for the less privileged in their districts,” he said.

And he is upbeat that “we will be able to find some good solution on this matter.”

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“The challenge for the House leadership is to keep these concerns from becoming a broader issue of trust,” Tapia said. “If lawmakers begin to believe that some districts are being treated differently from others, then that becomes harder to manage politically.” /cb