MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations began deliberations yesterday on the proposed P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026, with Speaker Martin Romualdez assuring the public of full transparency during hearings.
But fireworks over transparency marked the start of the hearings, with Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco demanding – and failing to get – the report of the “small committee” for fiscal year 2025.
Tiangco said the report would show who proposed realignments in the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted to the House by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
“We need a copy of that small committee (report). We are all entitled to that copy. Where is transparency here? I want to have a copy of the records of that committee,” the independent congressman told appropriations panel chair Rep. Mikaela Suansing.
Stressing that she was not yet the panel chair at the time, Suansing said the small committee deliberations were incorporated into the committee on appropriations report. But Tiangco said this was not supposed to be the process.
“I need to have a copy of that because I want to know whose district got more and whose district got less (in funding). Kung may nadagdagan, sigurado may nabawasan,” said Tiangco, a vocal critic of Romualdez.
Tiango cited a colleague whose NEP district allocation was just P2.3 billion, but which surged to about P20 billion in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
He said this also happened in the district of another congressman, whom he did not name.
The House appropriations committee chair for the 2025 GAA was Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co, who has been linked to Sunwest Construction, one of 15 companies that President Marcos said had cornered flood control projects nationwide since 2022.
At yesterday’s session, Secretaries Amenah Pangandaman of the DBM, Ralph Recto of the Department of Finance, Arsenio Balisacan Jr. of the Department of Economy, Planning and Development and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Eli Remolona Jr. briefed the House leadership – including Suansing – on the NEP for 2026.
“Every peso has an allocation, and every expenditure should benefit our people and should have trickle-down effect,” Romualdez told members of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).
“To our partners in the executive branch, allow me to be clear: we will scrutinize, we will question, we will deliberate thoroughly. But we will do so not as adversaries, but as allies united by a shared purpose,” the Speaker said.
“For at the end of the day, at the heart of our collaboration lies a common goal: to deliver a better, more dignified life for every Filipino family,” he said.
Romualdez underscored his commitment to transparency and accountability in government spending by welcoming accredited civil society organizations to an orientation on the national budget process ahead of the start of plenary deliberations.
The orientation, conducted by Romulo Emmanuel Miral Jr., head of the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department, briefed civil society representatives on the guidelines for their participation as non-voting observers in the crafting of the 2026 national budget.
“Every peso in the budget must be truly responsive to the needs of our people and our country,” Romualdez said. “By opening the process to civil society, we are showing that nothing is hidden and that the people themselves have a voice in shaping where their taxes will go.”
Deficit warning
Meanwhile, Recto warned of dire consequences if the Supreme Court grants the petition for the return of funds of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) and Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) earlier transferred to the national treasury.
“If the Supreme Court decides that the Executive branch and national government will have to return this money, then naturally the national government will comply,” Recto said during the budget deliberations.
“We will put it in the budget, that budget will be passed by Congress and we will comply. Now, assuming that the decision is made in the middle of the budget hearings, then that will increase the deficit. It may affect our credit ratings,” he added.
Recto said the economic team would prefer to program the repayment in the succeeding year’s budget to avoid a sudden fiscal shock.
The Supreme Court is currently deliberating on petitions questioning the transfer of idle funds from government-owned and controlled corporations to the national treasury. Petitioners have asked the high court to order the return of P60 billion to PhilHealth and P104 billion to the PDIC.
Recto said Congress has the prerogative to cut wasteful spending during budget deliberations, but not to increase appropriations.
Pressed whether reallocating savings would make tax cuts possible, Recto said the matter is separate from budget debates. He said that reducing taxes while maintaining a high deficit would be difficult.
“My advice is that when the deficit gets down to three percent (of gross domestic product), then we can start talking about cutting taxes,” Recto said. The government expects the deficit to reach 5.5 percent of GDP this year before going down to 4.3 percent in 2028.
Lawmakers have raised doubts on how the government can achieve social transformation goals under the Philippine Development Plan when allocations for education, health and social protection remain tight, but heft for flood control at P270 billion.
AKAP unfunded
The Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), meanwhile, will have no new allocation for 2026, but Pangandaman stressed the program is not being defunded.
She said AKAP still has P13 billion in unutilized appropriations from its P26-billion budget this year, which will remain available until end-2026.
“Upon review, there’s still a P13-billion balance … so the DSWD can still use that until the end of the year,” she said, explaining that continuing appropriations cover the program’s funding needs.
The program offers assistance to people earning less than the minimum wage of up to P10,000.
Funding for AKAP in the 2025 budget program was initially rejected by both the House and Senate, but was restored during the bicameral conference committee, which set it at about P26 billion.
Household budgeting
Romualdez likened the national fund allocation to budgeting by a Filipino family.
“Just as every Filipino household plans its budget with care, we too must ensure that each peso serves a meaningful purpose,” he said.
“It is where the lifeblood of our nation – the people’s money – is measured against the people’s needs. Here, in this august chamber, we commence the critical work of transforming vision into action, and action into lasting progress,” he added.
He informed DBCC members, who are also part of the President’s economic team, that the House “has opened its doors wider than ever before.”
“We ended the practice of the ‘small committee.’ We welcomed civil society observers. Because the Filipino people deserve full transparency in how their hard-earned money is planned, allocated, and spent,” he said.
“If the process is clear, so is the people’s trust. And if there is trust from the people, there is strength in the government,” he said in Filipino. “Transparency is not an option – it is the cornerstone of democratic governance.”
“But candor requires that we also confront the hard truths. Our economy continues to feel the effects of global uncertainty. Inflation weighs heavily on the poor. Our debt, swollen by the pandemic, must be managed wisely.”
“Let it be said that here, leaders chose honesty over evasion, service over self-interest and unity over division,” he stated.
“Budgets are not built on numbers alone. They are built on trust. And trust is built on truth. If we honor that truth, this budget will not merely be a plan of government, it will be a covenant of hope with every Filipino,” Romualdez stressed.
In her remarks, Suansing emphasized the chamber’s commitment to meaningful reforms.
“We envision the budget for fiscal year 2026 to be centered on the Filipino people, both in terms of expenditure priorities and the budget process itself,” Suansing said.
At the briefing, she emphasized Congress’ assurance that the country’s largest-ever proposed budget would translate to visible and tangible improvements in the daily lives of Filipinos. “We in Congress will make sure that this P6.793-trillion budget will redound to the benefit of Filipinos.”
She also announced reforms in the budget process aimed at dismantling secrecy and restoring public trust. “We will enact major reforms: we will abolish the ‘small committee,’ open the bicameral conference committee proceedings and institutionalize civil society engagement in the process,” she maintained.
She explained this was “in response to our people’s clamor, and in support of the call of President Marcos and of Speaker Romualdez toward increased transparency and public participation in the budget process.”