Lawmakers urged: ‘Resist temptation’ to alter budget

MANILA, Philippines — Former Budget Secretary and incumbent Monetary Board member Benjamin Diokno is urging lawmakers to “resist the temptation” to rewrite the administration’s draft 2027 national budget for political ends.

Diokno said Congress should pass a general appropriations bill that largely hews to President Marcos’ proposed P7.2-trillion budget and respects the constitutional prohibition against increasing the spending level set by the executive.

“For congressmen and senators seeking office in 2028, it is the 2027 budget that matters the most,” he said.

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“The question is simple but consequential: Can Congress resist the temptation to turn fiscal strain into political opportunity and pass a budget that is free of pork and compliant with the 1987 Constitution?” he added.

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Diokno pointed to Congress’ extensive revisions to the 2023, 2024 and 2025 budgets, saying bicameral conference committees did more than reconcile House and Senate versions. They also added spending items and shifted allocations between agencies to create what lawmakers called “fiscal space.”

Shifting funds

He cited repeated cuts in proposed foreign-assisted projects of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), alongside increases in the DPWH budget.

Diokno said DOTr funding was cut by P61.2 billion in 2023 while DPWH funding rose by 24.5 percent. In 2024, DOTr was cut by P140.4 billion while DPWH increased by 21.4 percent. In 2025, DOTr was reduced by P92.9 billion while DPWH rose by 21 percent.

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“This maneuver was especially costly because many of the displaced DOTr projects are foreign-assisted projects with long lead times and large economic payoffs,” he said.

“The cost is not merely accounting. Delays in major infrastructure projects raise implementation costs and postpone the benefits that citizens were meant to receive,” Diokno added.

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The proposed 2027 budget allocates P976 billion to education, P644 billion to the DPWH and P302.2 billion to the transport sector.

For Diokno, the 2027 budget will test whether lawmakers can put long-term economic needs ahead of political calculations as the 2028 elections approach.

“The question, then, is whether legislators facing elections in May 2028 can behave differently when the 2027 budget offers their last useful chance to shape public spending before the campaign season,” he said.