Why a Watchdog Is Raising Alarm Over P970 Billion in the Proposed 2027 Budget
The line items are said to be vulnerable to risks of fiscal waste and political patronage.
by JV Ordoñez
Published on Sep 18, 2026
With legislators fully hunkered in to work out the kinks in next year's national spending plan, a budget watchdog has identified P970 billion in red flag items in the P7.2-trillion budget.
People's Budget Coalition (PBC) , which is made up of research and civic groups that are hell-bent on scrutinizing public fiscal planning, cited risks of political patronage, waste, and worsened cases of unsupervised infrastructure insertions that have been avenues for large-scale corruption.
You don't have to think too far back especially with the bombshell last year and the implosion of political ties between major parties after the high brass in Congress and in the bureaucracy have been tied to the funneling of funds via fictitious or subpar flood control projects.
Next year's proposed spending plan has been placed under appropriately sterner scrutiny after the multi-billion-peso flood control scheme that has now led to former House Speaker and President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.'s cousin, Martin Romuladez, arrested for plunder.
PBC last month identified P735.56 billion in the proposed national expenditure program, line items that could be used for increased political intervention, and a number of other items that lacked project documentation.
The higher and amended figure of P970 billion made public on Sept. 18 now took into account P680 billion in infrastructure projects without complete project attachements. It also considers P140 billion as patronage-driven social assistance coupled with P58.5 billion in local government support funds and anti-insurgency village programs.
Unprogrammed appropriations, which have been a perennial bane of fiscal transparency, had also been flagged for P112 billion, while budget allocations for the Offices of the President, Vice President, and Congress, which account for P38 billion
"The proposed P7.2-trillion 2027 national budget is not yet final, and the People’s Budget Coalition is calling on the House of Representatives to use the remaining stages of the budget process to address questionable allocations, protect essential services, and ensure meaningful public scrutiny before the budget is passed," according to the civic watchdog.
“The PBC is calling for greater transparency around fiscal targets, assumptions, revisions, and risks to the government’s revenue program."
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