EDITORIAL - Budget fast break

The dust hasn’t settled yet over the massive corruption scandal linked to creative budgeting by both Congress and Malacañang. And yet here we go again, trying to spot systematic thievery and the use of public funds for personal aggrandizement by politicians, as Congress deliberates on the proposed national budget for 2027.

Budget watchdogs are dismayed by what they have seen at the House of Representatives. Civil society groups have alerted the Senate finance committee about worrisome realignments made by the House on the P7.2-trillion outlay proposed by the executive.

The watchdogs, together with Senate finance committee chair JV Ejercito, noted among others the removal of P130 billion in funding for foreign-assisted big-ticket infrastructure projects. Such realignments mean not only delays for the projects, but also massive additional costs for taxpayers in terms of commitment fees and penalties, the watchdogs warned.

They also flagged huge fund realignments to the ever-expanding ayuda programs that lawmakers can’t seem to let go of, especially with the start of the campaign for the 2028 elections expected to begin in earnest next year, long before the official campaign period opens.

Among the ayuda programs that allow politicians to use public funds for their personal self-promotion are the medical pork barrel MAIFIP or Medical Assistance for Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients, AICS or Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations, TUPAD or Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers as well as dole-outs for farmers and fisherfolk.

Funds for the ayuda programs ballooned while allocations for public education, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and other sectors that don’t allow political credit-grabbing suffered drastic cuts.

Recently, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian also raised red flags over 7,107 projects worth P251.81 billion in the proposed outlay for the Department of Public Works and Highways.

You’d think congressmen would have already learned their lesson, after seeing their former speaker Martin Romualdez detained without bail for plunder, former appropriations committee chair Zaldy Co on the run, and several other congressmen facing plunder charges and barred from leaving the country.

Instead, the main lesson they seem to have learned from the scandal is not to get caught. Watchdogs lament that the House promise of transparency in the budget process has been reduced to lip service.

There’s still time to foil this budget fast break. The Senate is hammering out its version of the General Appropriations Bill, and the measure will go through  bicameral conference before being forwarded to President Marcos for his signature.

The public can’t afford to let down its guard. As in liberty, the price of fiscal prudence is eternal vigilance