House passes 2026 budget, clash with Senate on P249 billion unprogrammed funds likely

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives passed on final reading the proposed 2026 budget, which retains billions of pesos in unprogrammed appropriations, setting the stage for a clash with the Senate, which has indicated it would remove such funds.

A total of 287 lawmakers voted to approve the budget on Monday, October 13, but there were 12 House members who cast a negative vote, and two others who abstained.

Akbayan Representative Chel Diokno previously tried to zero out unprogrammed appropriations worth P249 billion, but his motion failed following a voice vote in the plenary before the second reading of the budget on Friday, October 10.

House appropriations committee chairperson Mika Suansing had argued that unprogrammed appropriations are necessary to fund foreign-assisted infrastructure projects that did not make the deadline during the budget preparation.

Failure to do so would be “reneging on our international commitments,” Suansing added.

Suansing also said the appropriations committee already removed infrastructure projects worth P35 billion from the SIPAG (Sustainable Infrastructure Projects Alleviating Gaps) Program, one of the two categories under unprogrammed funds, which had been flagged by critics.

A simple computation puts unprogrammed appropriations at the still hefty amount of P214 billion.

The Constitution says Congress can reallocate items in the budget, but not exceed the maximum amount set by the National Expenditure Program. Some budget experts believe programmed funds are being transferred to unprogrammed appropriations to circumvent this constitutional ceiling.

Senate President Tito Sotto already signaled his intention to eliminate unprogrammed funds in the 2026 budget, saying he had already talked to finance committee chair Win Gatchalian.

Unprogrammed appropriations are basically standby funds that the government can tap into when unanticipated situations arise.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) wrote that the concept of unprogrammed funds was introduced over four decades ago and retained by succeeding administrations. Such a budget can be tapped during calamities and other “activities we do not even anticipate.”

Opposition lawmakers have called it “standby pork,” with members of Liberal Party questioning its constitutionality before the Supreme Court in 2024.

For the 2025 budget, Marcos vetoed P168 billion allocated under unprogrammed appropriations.

Aside from unprogrammed appropriations, the House is also likely to butt heads with the Senate on the proposed funding for the Office of the Vice President for 2026.

The House already slashed OVP’s budget to P733 million, an apparent punishment against Vice President Sara Duterte for snubbing the lower chamber’s deliberations on her funding request. The Senate, however, kept the executive’s proposed amount for the OVP after a committee-level briefing. – Rappler.com