Ping flags questionable 2027 budget lump sums

Senator Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson attends a plenary session on August 13, 2026. (Courtesy: Senate of the Philippines)

Senator Panfilo Lacson on Saturday flagged questionable lump sum appropriations for infrastructure projects in the proposed P7.2-trillion national budget for 2027.

Lacson said he plans to seek clarification from concerned government officials and may formally address the matter during the upcoming Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) briefing on August 27.

“We spotted lump sum appropriations that we don’t think should be lump sum. When we say lump sum appropriations, an aggregate amount is appropriated for a project, activity or program (PAP), or group of projects without detailing the breakdown of the cost of each PAP,” he said.

“We will seek clarification on the details of these lump sum appropriations. Lump sum appropriations are allowed for calamity funds because we cannot predict when calamities occur. But it becomes questionable if it’s for infrastructure projects. That is what we saw and we will ask for details on the matter,” he added.

Lacson and his staff have started poring through the National Expenditure Program (NEP) after it was transmitted to both houses of Congress earlier this week.

He said they will also check the NEP for possible special provisions that may potentially abuse the unprogrammed appropriations.

Lacson also reiterated they will maintain the reforms initiated by the Senate and adopted all the way to the bicameral conference committee by then Senate finance committee chairman and now Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, including livestreaming the proceedings of the bicameral conference committee and posting online all documents related to the budget process.

This early, he said finance committee chairman Jose Victor Ejercito assured him he will not allow insertions in the bicameral conference committee, if they are not in the Senate or House versions of the General Appropriations Bill.

Lacson said such a policy would address a longstanding problem in the bicameral conference committee, where provisions that do not appear in either the Senate or House versions of the General Appropriations Bill have, in the past, been inserted during the final stages of the budget process.

Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., for his part, live-streaming the deliberations on the proposed budget for 2027 would promote transparency, allowing taxpayers to scrutinize and know how public funds are spent.

He said he is supporting the possibility of another open bicameral conference for the 2027 national budget.

“Personally, I believe that for the bicam, we need to invite everyone – religious groups, educators, civil society organizations – so they can see that we aren’t hiding anything from the public,” Abante said.

The proposed national budget for 2027 is about six percent higher than the P6.793 trillion for 2026.

It includes P111.9 billion in unprogrammed appropriations, which may be released only when specified funding conditions are met. — Joel E. Zurbano & Maricel Cruz