MANILA – Congress has the authority to increase or reduce the proposed PHP7.2-trillion national budget for 2027, Malacañang said on Friday.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro maintained that Congress holds the “power of the purse,” after the executive branch submitted its 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP), which outlines the programs and projects that need government funding.
“Ang kapangyarihan na magdagdag, magbawas, mag evaluate ng budget ay nasa kamay ng Kongreso dahil sila ang may hawak ng (The power to add, reduce, and evaluate the budget rests with Congress because it holds the) ‘power of the purse,’” she said in a statement.
Castro’s statement came after 35 Philippine business and civil society groups issued a joint statement urging Congress to remove insertions in the proposed 2027 national budget that lack technical justification.
She stressed that while the 2027 NEP was crafted by the executive branch, the national budget is drafted and passed by Congress.
“May proposed budget para sa 2027 na sinumite ang ehekutibo at iyon ang mga programa at proyekto na dapat sanang mapondohan at hindi na mabawasan pa (There is a proposed budget for 2027 submitted by the executive branch, which outlines the programs and projects that should be funded and should no longer be subject to further cuts),” Castro said.
She said the Marcos administration shares the groups’ call to ensure that public funds are not abused.
“Ang national budget ay isang batas na binabalangkas ng Kongreso. Ang panawagan na huwag abusuhin ang pondo ng bayan ay kaisa ang administrayong Marcos, Jr. (The national budget is a law drafted by Congress. The Marcos Jr. administration shares the call to ensure that public funds are not abused),” Castro said.
“Nais lang din ng ehekutibo na ang proposed budget ay huwag nang mabawasan kung magiging sanhi ito ng pagka antala sa mga programa at proyekto ng gobyerno (The executive branch simply wants the proposed budget to remain intact and not be reduced if doing so would cause delays in the implementation of government programs and projects),” she added.
In a joint statement on Thursday, business groups, including the Makati Business Club, Management Association of the Philippines and Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, urged Congress to remove unsupported additions from the proposed budget.
The call came amid concerns over the House-approved General Appropriations Bill (HB) 10858, which added more than PHP180 billion to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget through amendments by the Budget Amendments and Review Subcommittee.
They said they found it “deeply troubling” that congressional insertions in the DPWH budget were funded by reportedly cutting around PHP130 billion from foreign-assisted projects, PHP9.5 billion for calamity funds, PHP1.76 billion from the EDSA Busway budget, and PHP4.9 billion for health programs.
