EDITORIAL — Abusing the power of the purse

The details aren’t in yet, but already, individuals and groups knowledgeable in budgeting are set to closely scrutinize the National Expenditure Program or NEP that the executive will submit to Congress next month.

For 2026, the Development Budget Coordination Committee is proposing a national budget of P6.793 trillion – up 7.4 percent from this year’s P6.326 trillion.

This year’s General Appropriations Act faces an unprecedented constitutional challenge before the Supreme Court, and will best be remembered for being what critics describe as the most corrupt GAA ever. The SC must rule on the petitions before the next Congress follows in the footsteps of the current one that is about to end.

There’s no guarantee that lessons have been learned, or that members of the incoming 20th Congress won’t take the same liberties with people’s money to serve their personal purposes.

 Controversy over the institutionalization of thievery and the politicization of social welfare programs in the 2025 GAA, as part of a thinly disguised attempt by lawmakers to use public funds for their election campaigns, eclipsed the scandal over the confidential funds of Vice President Sara Duterte.

The controversy is seen to have contributed to the underwhelming performance of the administration’s Alyansa slate in the Senate race. This less-than-stellar showing, in turn, is seen to have worked in favor of the Vice President in the effort to oust her through impeachment.

The 19th Congress cut to zero the subsidy for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. It impounded supposed savings of all government corporations including PhilHealth for diversion to the new congressional pork barrel, the unprogrammed appropriations, as well as to ayuda programs that weren’t even proposed in the NEP. It slashed P50 billion from the de-politicized Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.   

 Certain incoming lawmakers known to be familiar with the budgeting hocus-pocus are expected to push reforms in the use of confidential funds as well as social welfare programs, to insulate state-funded aid and health care from politics. But will their incorrigibly self-absorbed colleagues, who are unable to rise above partisan interests, go along with the reforms? 

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the NEP for 2026 focuses on human capital development through investments in education, health care and workers’ upskilling, to produce a “strong, capable and future-ready workforce.”

The 19th Congress had slashed billions from education and health care, realigning the amounts to politicized ayuda and the unprogrammed appropriations – all behind the closed doors of the bicameral conference.

The same magicians behind this financial sleight of hand are now saying they are ready to open the bicam deliberations to the public. While waiting for this to become reality, the executive should do more to prevent a repeat of this abuse of the power of the purse.