Lawmaker to question 2026 GAA before SC

MANILA, Philippines — House senior deputy minority leader and Caloocan 2nd district Rep. Edgar Erice is challenging the constitutionality of the 2026 General Appropriations Act for containing unprogrammed funds, saying the minority bloc will elevate and file a petition before the Supreme Court (SC).

“We’re studying it further, but just the same, my position is that all unprogrammed funds in any form are unconstitutional. So I will have to challenge it before the SC,” he said yesterday.

“We’re already drafting the petition. It is also important that we put a stop to this, and for the SC to really define the parameters of this type of budgeting, especially to those who have no source of funding or financing, which is against the Constitution,” Erice added.

Reps. Renee Louise Co (Kabataan party-list), Sarah Jane Elago (Gabriela Women’s Party) and Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers), for their part, believe the 2026 spending measure “perpetuates the pork barrel system, patronage politics and systemic corruption in government.”

“The President’s much-touted veto of P92.5 billion in unprogrammed appropriations is nothing but pampalubag-loob – a token gesture meant to distract from the billions in pork barrel funds that remain untouched in the signed budget,” they declared in a joint statement.

The lawmakers noticed that Marcos didn’t veto the “allocables” – more popularly known as discretionary funds or pork barrel allocations the Department of Public Works and Highways has allotted to members of both houses of Congress.

“By refusing to veto the allocables, Marcos has ensured the continuation of the most entrenched system of corruption in government – one that involves lawmakers, DPWH officials and private contractors in a well-oiled machinery of kickbacks, overpricing and ghost projects,” they said.

“There’s no genuine reform or authentic changes. Only the preservation of a corrupt system that keeps him in power,” they said.