NAVOTAS City Rep. Tobias Tiangco yesterday said the House leadership’s move to stop the practice of creating a small committee to accept or reject proposed amendments to the annual national budget is not enough to ensure full transparency to the budget process.
Tiangco said the House has to make public the changes introduced by the small panel in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), particularly the flood control projects that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wants investigated.
“Kung gusto nila ng imbestigasyon sa kalokohan sa flood control projects, dito dapat magsimula sa pagtingin ng amendments na ginawa ng (If they want an investigation on the shenanigans in flood control projects, they should start by looking into the amendments of the) small committee for the 2025 budget. Otherwise, this (abolition of small committee) announcement is just a cover-up for what could be the most corrupt budget in history,” Tiangco said in a statement.
Marcos, in his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 28, ordered the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to review all completed, failed, unfinished, and even “ghost” flood control projects within the last three years, and submit to him a complete list.
The Chief Executive said someone would be held accountable for the recent massive flooding incidents in the country, particularly in Metro Manila, which easily gets paralyzed during the rainy season.
While he thanked the House Committee on Appropriations chaired by Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Suansing for heeding his call to abolish the practice, Tiangco said scrapping the small committee “is just the first step towards promoting transparency in budget deliberations.”
“The fact that they (House leadership) agreed to abolish the small committee proves that I was correct and that may problema talaga sa sikretong usapan ng apat na tao na bumubuo nito (there are really problems in the secret deliberations among the four people composing it),” he said.
Suansing on Monday announced that in place of the small committee, the House appropriations panel will instead form a “sub-committee on budget amendments review” to facilitate and deliberate on proposed amendments submitted by departments, agencies and House members who are pushing for higher congressional allocations for their districts.
She said the sub-committee will be composed of the senior vice chair of the panel, a member nominated by each political party and the Party-list Coalition and members from the minority bloc to ensure “proper representation for all members and exhaustive deliberations.”
Tiangco said the appropriations panel should now “commit that all individual amendments be done in open plenary sessions.”
“It is not enough that there is a subcommittee on budget amendments review. As I’ve said, just like any law, all individual amendments must be discussed in plenary before the approval of the House General Appropriations Bill on second reading. Dapat mag-commit sila na lahat ng individual amendments ay gagawin sa plenaryo para talagang kita ng lahat kung ano ang mga pagbabago sa proposed budget (They should commit that all individual amendments will be done in the plenary so that all changes to the proposed budget could be seen by everyone),” he said.
He also said the House leadership cannot use as an excuse the numerous line items in the GAB, adding that “if there are really a lot, then we must work overtime.”
“If we can do it for all other bills, why can’t we do it for the most important bill we pass each year? Trabaho namin ‘yan. Kahit gaano kahirap, dapat naming gampanan (That’s our job. No matter how hard, we should do it). No ifs and buts,” he said.
The Navotas lawmaker also reiterated there should be no changes to the proposed budget after the bill is approved on second reading.
“Under Section 56 and 57 of the House rules, committee and individual amendments must be completed before a bill is approved on second reading. That means, no changes should be made after second reading to ensure transparency and accountability in the budget process,” he added.
2025 BUDGET
Tiangco said the appropriations panel should publicize the amendments made by the small committee for the 2025 budget “if it is truly sincere in its commitment to transparency and accountability.”
The House last year formed a four-man committee, led by then appropriations chairperson Rep. Zaldy Co (PL, Ako Bicol), which reviewed and decided on the proposed individual amendments to the 2025 GAB.
“Now, to show good faith, they (House leadership) should ask Cong. Zaldy Co, who was the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations at that time, to make public the amendments done by the small committee for the 2025 budget,” Tiangco said.
“If they won’t do that, this is just a charade. We cannot move forward and simply forget the wrongdoings of the past. We have to uncover the sins of the 2025 budget,” he said.
Tiangco said the President was obviously alluding to lawmakers when he said that those who are profiting from public works projects should be ashamed of themselves because of the recent massive floodings, especially in Metro Manila.
“Hindi ba obvious na kami ‘yung sinabihan ng ‘mahiya kayo’? Kaya nga ako ang unang nag-standing ovation dahil alam kong kami ‘yon (Isn’t it obvious that we were the ones told to be ‘ashamed’? That’s why I was the first to make a standing ovation because I knew that we were the ones being alluded to),” he said.
At the Senate, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said he fully supports the President’s pronouncement that he would disown his allies who will be found involved in shady deals.
“The President is on a roll and we should encourage him some more. When he called out the members of Congress with his now most-quoted ‘Mahiya naman kayo (Shame on you)’ remark, followed by his announcement yesterday (Monday) that the Department of Public Works and Highways has already submitted its report on the defective and anomalous flood control projects, the ball is now in his hands to make good in his promise to make accountable all those involved – errant contractors and their cohorts in government,” Lacson said.
He said the public expects the President to fulfill his strong SONA statement, otherwise he will be embarrassed “if he fails to walk the talk.”
Based on his office’s investigations, Lacson said more than P2 trillion has been released for flood control projects since 2011 for the DPWH, and yet floodings persist.
“For the past 15 years since 2011, it turns out that more than P2 trillion had been allocated for the DPWH in the General Appropriations Act. This includes drainage and desilting. It is hard to audit dredging,” he said in Filipino in an interview with radio dzBB.
Lacson said he may have to follow up the President’s statement by submitting his lists of other questionable infrastruct ure projects.
“We started with flood control projects. I hope this will be followed by other questionable projects like road construction, repairs, maintenance, etc.,” he added.
He said that his office is doing its research on other questionable projects not included in the DPWH report.
“I will expose, maybe in a privilege speech or in another forum, but I will make sure the public will be informed… If our findings are not in the list of questionable projects submitted by the DPWH, we will furnish the DPWH or the Office of the President with copies of our findings,” he said.
Sen. Erwin Tulfo, in chance interview, said he has received information that around 10 or more congressmen in the current 20th Congress are contractors.
He said the congressmen can be invited when the Senate conducts a hearing on the issue but doubts if they will attend due to inter-parliamentary courtesy.
“There is [inter-]parliamentary courtesy. They can tell us, wait a minute, we don’t want to go there. They might say that we are disrespecting them. We might be embarrassed. But it is up to them if they will attend,” he said.
He also said that he has no information if there are senator-contractors since he is just new in the upper chamber.
Tulfo said the President meant business when he said that he will run after erring contractors.
“That’s why he ordered an FLR or ‘for later release’ of the budgets for questionable flood control and other projects. Up to now they are hanging in the air. The President does not want to release the funds, particularly P20 billion in Oriental Mindoro, P20 billion in Occidental Mindoro. It turned out that there is only one contractor, there is only one company (involved),” he added without elaborating.
CIVIL SOCIETY OBSERVERS
Also yesterday, the House approved Speaker Martin Romualdez’s House Resolution No. 94, which seeks to accredit “bona fide” people’s organizations to allow them to participate as non-voting observers in the budget deliberations of the House.
The resolution was filed after Romualdez heeded the President’s call for budget reforms, declaring that bicameral deliberations on the GAB will be opened to the public and civil society observers.
The House likewise started its consultations with leaders of various civil society organizations (CSOs) on the proposal to institutionalize public participation in the crafting of the annual national budget.
The meeting was led by Rep. Jude Acidre (PL, Tingog), who said he was pleased with the enthusiasm of the participants and their strong support for the broader transparency and accountability reforms being implemented by the House leadership.
“We believe that involving civil society groups at the very start of budget discussions will help us craft a national budget that is more responsive, inclusive, and aligned with the needs of our people,” Acidre said. “This is not just about transparency – it’s about empowering citizens to help shape national priorities.”
Among those present during the consultation meeting were lawyer Natasha Daphne Sta. Clara Marcelo of the Move As One Coalition, Engr. Rene Santiago of the Foundation for Economic Freedom, Eunice Tanilon of the We Solve Foundation, Raul Montemayor of the Federation of Free Farmers, Danica Supnet of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, Adolfo Jose A. Montesa of the People’s Budget Coalition, May R. Cinco of ENet Philippines, John Benedict Felices of the Jesse Robredo Institute/La Salle, Jeck Cantos of Social Watch, Inc., Ralph Degoncillo of Health Justice, and Sandino J. Soliman and Bryan Ezra Gonzales of CODE-NGO.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Secretary General Romulo Emmanuel Miral of the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department, and lawyer Muel Romero, head executive assistant of the Office of the Speaker.
Participants in the consultation expressed their support for the measure and stressed the importance of early access to budget information, sector-specific dialogue and sustained participation throughout the budget cycle. – With Raymond Africa
