Senate President Vicente Sotto III stated on Monday that “amendments or insertions” are “part of the regular budget process” as long as they were done during the deliberations. He made the clarification following Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson’s revelation that “almost all” senators in the 19th Congress inserted items in the 2025 budget, totaling around P100 billion.
“It is unfortunate that the issue on ghost projects and failed flood control projects affect and generalized all amendments as illegal or improper,” Sotto explained. “Some of these amendments are for additional classrooms, farm to market roads and bridges that will benefit our people, especially those in the far flung provinces. Some of which were never funded and were tagged for later release (FLR),” the Senate President added.
Sen. JV Ejercito also defended the practice, stating that amendments “are not tainted as long as there is no post enactment intervention.” “One of our tasks is to introduce amendments after the budget hearings to support and further improve programs and projects,” Ejercito said.
Lacson had earlier noted that while budget insertions were not entirely illegal, the amounts of around P5 to P9 billion per lawmaker were suspicious. He emphasized that without such insertions, district engineering offices nationwide “do not have any funds to play with” anymore, calling it the “original sin.”
Sotto vowed that for the 2026 budget, “the Senate will institute changes for greater transparency, people’s participation and accountability.”