MANILA — The House of Representatives overwhelmingly greenlit the Marcos administration’s proposed ₱7.2-trillion national budget for 2027 on third and final reading.
Voting 281-13 with one abstention, lawmakers passed House Bill 10858, or the 2027 General Appropriations Bill, which secures financial allocations for the entire bureaucracy and independent offices. Under the approved measure, the Department of Education grabbed the largest portion of funding at ₱1.1 trillion.
Despite the swift passage, a few legislators strongly opposed the measure, criticizing its distribution priorities.
Caloocan City 2nd District Representative Egay Erice voted against the bill, arguing that the financial plan serves partisan objectives.
“I am ashamed of the Filipino people because, despite the corruption scandals and questionable budget insertions of previous years, we appear to have learned nothing,” Erice said.
He further characterized the measure as a budget that “rewards political allies, penalizes critics and protects political interests at the expense of Filipinos.”
Akbayan Party-list Representative Dadah Kiram Ismula also opposed the enactment, emphasizing that health resource allocation should be steered by technical specialists rather than politicians.
“This is not a question of a lack of fiscal space but of political will and empathy. We allowed our budget allocation for health care to be inadequate while we have allotted billions of pesos to items that don’t directly save the lives of our countrymen,” she stated.
Following the budget’s progress, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) announced stricter spending guidelines to eliminate frivolous costs, including year-end festivities disguised as official workshops.
Acting Budget Secretary Kim Robert de Leon stated that policy shifts will enforce prudent resource management, especially during the fourth-quarter surge.
“Especially now that we are in the fourth quarter, so surely there will be a surge in utilization because there will be parties left and right masquerading as planning sessions,” De Leon noted.
He emphasized that agency evaluations should center on tangible metrics rather than mere spending percentages.
“Don’t just look at, ‘We spent 98 percent of the budget.’ On what?” de Leon remarked. “We’re looking at the quality of spending. You may be spending less but producing more in terms of output and even outcome.”
Latest DBM figures reveal that while notices of cash allocation climbed by eight percent to ₱3.62 trillion by August, overall agency utilization slipped slightly to 92.7 percent.