House party leaders move to return proposed P6.7-trillion budget to DBM

Leaders of the House of Representatives on Wednesday moved for the return of the proposed P6.7-trillion budget for 2026 to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) over erroneous entries, Deputy Speaker and Antipolo Representative Ronaldo Puno said.

“There  have been been many concerns raised by our party leaders so we have decided as a group to recommend the return of the 2026 national budget to the DBM because we do not know how to deal with it,” Puno, chairman of the National Unity Party, said in a joint press conference with other political party leaders from the Lakas-CMD, Nacionalista Party and Nationalist People’s Coalition.

“We have to practically redo the entire [2026 budget] submission to us. We do not want to be suspected of any untoward action. We don't want it to appear that we are not accepting the rightful recommendations of the DBM,” Puno added.

Puno earlier flagged the 2026 budget for the zero allocations for multi-year programs as well as provisions allocating budget to government projects which are already finished.

On Wednesday, Deputy Speaker Paolo Ortega V of La Union also said two classroom buildings worth P2.5 million had a budget allocation under the proposed 2026 budget even if these two classroom buildings are already finished.

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. earlier ordered a sweeping review of the proposed 2026 budget to cleanse it of unmeritorious provisions.

Legal move

Puno said that returning the proposed budget to the DBM is aboveboard, based on the advice of the House of Representatives’ legal team.

“The the initial opinion given to us [by the House legal team]...allow me to read it to you. 'In light of  the admissions publicly made by the Department Secretaries that there are erroneous entries in the NEP (National Expenditure Program] transmitted to the House of Representatives, the House will be justified in returning the same to the DBM so that it can effect corrections, so that the House can deliberate on the budget that actually reflects the  proposal, intent, and desire of the Executive',” he said.

“'There is nothing in the Constitution or in the law that prevents the House from undertaking the action. In fact, the action becomes necessary at this  time. It is in the interest of the public that this must be done'.”

Puno also cited the Administrative Code of 1987, which states that “subsequent to the submission of the budget to Congress, the President may transmit to the Congress from time to time such proposed supplemental or deficiency appropriations as are, in his judgment, number one, necessary on account of laws enacted after the transmission of the budget, or number two, otherwise needed in the public interest.”

The President in this provision, Puno said, also covers the DBM because the President's proposed budget is prepared by the DBM.

“This [entering of corrections under the Administrative Code] is an option available to the DBM, too,” he said.

He added that such piecemeal corrections would be so tedious, leaving the return of the entire proposed P6.7-trillion budget to the DBM as a more viable option.

“Returning the document for corrections will be more systematic and practical, and instead of us having to correct the district budgets of more than 250 districts, perhaps the DBM can now do what it should have done  in the first place and correct these matters before they send it to us,” he said.

“This is the position that the party leaders have taken, and we hope that you will all understand our intention that this thing be resolved correctly and properly,” Puno added.

Deputy Speaker and Iloilo Representative Janette Garin of the ruling party Lakas-CMD, for her part, said that the Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman’s previous comments that the agency did not catch redundant budget provisions or zero allocations for multi-year projects is unusual, if not unacceptable.

“My experience as a Cabinet member is that you look at the existing programs, then the new programs  [of a particular agency]. You fund the continuing [multi-year] projects). Nakakagulat ‘yung ating narinig galing sa kalihim ng DBM na dumaan sa kanila at hindi na nila natingnan,” Garin, who served as the Health Secretary during the tenure of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, said.

(The DBM chief’s comment that they did not notice such provisions is shocking.)

“The public is pointing at Congress over insertion but when you look at the budget, these programs which are apparently ghost programs as seen during the visit of President Marcos, Jr. are initiated by the government agency, not Congress,” she said.

“The recommendation of the party leaders is to request Speaker Martin Romualdez to return this budget to the DBM and let the DBM point out which ones to weed out. That way, we will be able fulfill the promise of the President to deliver Bagong Pilipinas,” Garin, a party-mate of Romualdez under Lakas-CMD, added.

Puno said the House leaders are waiting for feedback from the Speaker as of press time.

In the same press conference, Puno said that correcting the errors in the proposed P6.7-trillion budget also involves their Senate counterparts' pointing out erroneous entries.

“This is a continuing process. The task of holding people accountable does not end here. In fact, even when you get to the Senate, we’re hoping that will continue,” he said.

“We will do our work here then we will send it to the Senate. If they have not resolved this issue of accountability by the time this gets to them, I don't think anybody will believe the result that will come after that,” he added. — BM, GMA Integrated News