Remulla: Ombudsman to pin down those who ‘gamed’ budget

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla on Monday said he would order the antigraft body to form a study group in a bid to pin down those who “gamed” the budget in the past few years.

Remulla made this remark after the Supreme Court declared “unconstitutional” certain provisions of the 2024 and 2025 national budgets, as well as key unprogrammed appropriations (UA), or standby government funds, in the 2026 budget.

“I will compose a group that will study the Supreme Court decision and the budget that came with the decision so we could study thoroughly the details,” Remulla said in a press conference.

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“We always evaluate decisions of the Supreme Court when it comes to pinpointing culpability. We have to act. So we will study all of that and look at where the fault was and how to make people explain their side, or at least be made responsible for what they did,” he added.

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Remulla said he recognized that Congress could amend the budget proposed by the President, but “bad faith” amendments were a different matter.

“We will look at the ‘parking,’ the amounts ‘parked’ in different places. Those are signs that they gamed the budget,” Remulla said. “So for the people who gamed the budget, we will study how to go after them.”

During the oral arguments before the high court, experts told SC justices that the national budget in the last three years saw an increase in UA, which lawmakers used to “park” their supposed pork barrel in the form of “budget insertions.”

Congressional probes looking into the multibillion-peso flood control corruption scandal revealed that a number of infrastructure projects were funded under UA.

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Remulla said that the Office of the Ombudsman has so far filed 35 flood control-related cases—31 of them under the jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan and four under the regional trial courts.

Also, he said 166 flood control-related complaints are already under preliminary investigation by the Ombudsman, the final stage before a decision ordering the filing of cases in court.

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Ejercito files budget bills

Meanwhile, Sen. JV Ejercito has filed two measures seeking to institutionalize the participation of civil society organizations (CSOs) in national and local budget processes, to empower them to help identify spending priorities.

“Your participation helps us achieve our goal of going back to basics and assessing whether proposed allocations respond to the needs of the people,” Ejercito, chair of the Senate committee on finance, said during a public consultation with CSOs on the proposed 2027 General Appropriations Act (GAA) on Monday.

Following the consultation with the CSOs, Ejercito filed Senate Bill No. 2576, or the Bantay Budget Act, and Senate Bill No. 2577, or the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Act.

“These measures seek to strengthen public oversight of government spending and ensure that ordinary Filipinos have a meaningful voice in determining how public funds are allocated, and that these funds benefit the people they are intended to serve,” said Ejercito, stressing that the CSOs’ participation is important because many of them directly interact with the community.

The Bantay Budget Act seeks to establish clear mechanisms allowing accredited CSOs to participate in the budget process, from the preparation of agency budget proposals to congressional deliberations and the final authorization of the GAA.

Accredited CSOs would be allowed to participate as resource persons in congressional budget hearings, submit position papers and alternative budget proposals, and present written recommendations on government projects and activities.

The bill also requires the House committee on appropriations and the Senate committee on finance to schedule at least one hearing day for accredited CSOs to present their positions on the proposed national budget.

The measure likewise allows CSOs to observe budget deliberations and bicameral conference committee proceedings, with records, stenographic notes, committee reports, and recordings of bicameral meetings made accessible to the public.

The Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Act, on the other hand, seeks to bring community-identified priorities into local and national budgeting.

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Under the bill, barangays, municipalities, cities, and provinces would be required to hold at least two consultation assemblies annually with accredited CSOs. The priorities identified would form the core of local poverty reduction action plans, local development investment programs, and annual local budget proposals. INQ