JV, Lacson: Budget ‘bicam’ open to all, sparing none

MANILA, Philippines — Senate finance committee chair Sen. JV Ejercito and vice chair Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson promised that they would spare no one, including the son of President Marcos, from scrutiny during deliberations by the bicameral conference committee on the P7.2-trillion national budget, which is alleged to be filled with insertions akin to pork.

Ejercito, responding to calls from business groups and civil society to open the bicameral deliberations to the public, on Saturday said that the hearings would be livestreamed. Congress will resume its session on Nov. 9.

“Having more eyes on the budget will help us spot any unvetted projects or last-minute insertions that may be introduced during the bicam,” Ejercito said in a statement.

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“A national budget should be a direct reflection of the people’s priorities, their basic needs,” he said. “From the first hearing to the final bicam, we want every single peso in the 2027 budget to be accountably and transparently allocated.”

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Watchdogs invited

The bicam has often been referred to as the “third congress” for holding the power to realign public funds and introduce amendments to the proposed budget away from the public eye.

READ: Ejercito, DPWH agree to drop noncompliant projects from 2027 budget

Ejercito said that all Senate finance committee budget hearings would also be livestreamed to allow the public to follow through the deliberations of each agency in real time.

He said that apart from livestreaming the hearings, they have invited business coalitions, civic groups, and watchdogs to help the Senate scrutinize the House-approved version of the 2027 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

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The public may monitor the bicameral deliberations using BetterGov.Ph, whose budget transparency portal is already embedded in the Senate website (https://budget-transparency-portal.senate.gov.ph).

Sandro, too? ‘Absolutely’

Lacson, who has gained recognition for his close scrutiny of government spending, said he and the others in the Senate majority bloc were on the same page as Ejercito about being fully transparent in the upcoming budget deliberations.

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An allocation of P4.4 billion for public works projects in the congressional district of the son of President Marcos, Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos, who is also the House majority leader, has drawn sharp rebukes from critics, describing it as undue privilege.

Lacson said in an interview with OneNews on Friday that the President’s son and his budget allocation, which is the single biggest amount for a district in the entire country, will “absolutely” come under scrutiny.

“Our attitude now is to go gung-ho. If anyone gets run over, so be it. There will be no exceptions, otherwise the exception could become the general rule,” Lacson said.

“That’s where it starts. When some things are scrutinized while others are not, that’s when the bargaining starts,” he added.

ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio also had noted that the P4.4 billion for Ilocos Norte’s First District Engineering Office, if approved, would be the biggest net increase among 198 engineering offices around the country.

The amount is also a part of the 6,212 new infrastructure projects worth about P180 billion that were believed to have been inserted into the 2027 national budget allegedly in the form of pork barrel.

In a five-point demand for a clean and responsive budget, which they presented to lawmakers in a statement last week, more than 30 business and civil society groups said Congress should not allow any insertion that lacks technical justifications.

The groups specifically flagged more than P180 billion worth of items added to the proposed budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which is at the center of the flood control corruption scandal.

They warned that funding questionable “insertions” at the expense of legitimate infrastructure and health programs could result in another major corruption scandal similar to the flood control kickback scheme.

“The 2027 budget must not repeat that history,” they said.

‘Shameless’

Lacson said that the open budget deliberations would be a good platform to expose “shameless” lawmakers who attempt to add funds to the budget for their benefit even after the Supreme Court recently flagged at least P467 billion in disputed funding increases in the 2024 and 2025 national budgets.

This includes the P449.5 billion in unprogrammed appropriations added to the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) and a P17.992-billion increase in the Department of Public Works and Highways’ Special Road Fund under the 2025 GAA.

“As I said, it’s not just about being vigilant—we should also resort to shaming, because sometimes, some people truly have no sense of shame left,” Lacson said.

In his State of the Nation Address in 2025 that launched the investigation of the flood control scandal, the President castigated those involved in corruption, famously saying, “Mahiyan naman kayo!” (Have some shame!)

Not the right message

Former Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad said that the Marcos administration was “not sending the right message” by giving the President’s son the biggest allocation in infrastructure projects.

In an oblique defense of the allocation for the infrastructure projects of the President’s son, Malacañang press officer Claire Castro said last week that all House members want to take care of and improve their respective districts.

“If a congressman’s projects are in order and the funds allocated for them will be used properly, who would have any reason to oppose them if the funding is sufficient to improve a district?” she said. “And just to be clear, this isn’t specific to Congressman Sandro Marcos. I’m speaking in general terms.”

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“Insertions are not generally bad. They only become bad when the money is inserted into a politician’s pocket. That is what is wrong,” she added. —With a report from Holly Bacay