Senate leaders vow removal of budget items not supported by documents

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian and Senator JV Ejercito have vowed to remove items in the 2027 proposed budget that do not have supporting documents from local government units (LGUs) and national agencies that will prove the necessity of the project.

In a statement shared to reporters on Friday, Gatchalian said that the Senate committee on finance will remove these items from the 2027 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), or the budget bill that was sent by the House of Representatives.

“The Senate committee on finance will remove from the General Appropriations Bill all projects lacking supporting documents, such as feasibility studies, programs of work, resolutions from the LGUs, and other required documents,” Gatchalian said.

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“We will continue the transparency reforms by uploading all relevant information to the Senate Transparency Portal,” he added.

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Ejercito, who heads the committee on finance, made the same assurance in a separate statement.

““We need to boost our infrastructure spending, but not at the expense of the reforms we want to be instituted,” Ejercito said.

“Every delayed project has an economic cost. And every anomalous, poorly vetted project costs us even more: it wastes taxpayers’ money, deprives endangered communities of safety, and erodes public trust,” he added.

Ejercito’s statement came after his meeting with the current and former heads of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) — newly-appointed Secretary Giovanni Lopez and Secretary Vince Dizon, who is now with the Department of Transportation.

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Lopez’s appointment was announced last Monday, but it was Dizon who was in charge of crafting the agency’s budget for 2027 — hence the meeting with the former DPWH chief.

READ: Dizon, Lopez swap agencies in latest Cabinet revamp

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It was also Dizon who appeared before the House’s budget deliberations, and who confirmed that they have submitted proposed changes to their 2027 national budget.

According to Ejercito, he sent a formal letter to Lopez setting November 3, 2026, as the deadline for the DPWH to submit complete documentary requirements and justifications for 6,271 infrastructure projects that are considered as “newly-introduced” items in the House’s version of the GAB.

Ejercito’s committee showed that the total number of DPWH infrastructure projects swelled from 11,420 under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) or the executive’s branch budget, to 16,244 in the GAB.

This means there are 6,271 new projects that were not part of the NEP.

Ejercito said that in his letter to Lopez, he cited the reform commitments initiated during Dizon’s tenure and urged the new leadership to uphold the same rigorous vetting standard.

“Under the leadership of Secretary Vince Dizon, the DPWH committed that it will ensure that all infrastructure projects proposed for funding comply with the agency’s documentary requirements,” the letter read.

“We must continue to ensure that public funds are allocated to projects that are properly justified, implementation-ready, and responsive to the needs of our constituents,” he added.

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Ejercito said both Lopez and Dizon assured him of their full cooperation and confirmed that the department will enforce the vetting process to ensure non-compliant and questionable items are removed before the national budget reaches plenary debates. /gsg