ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio condemned the transfer of more than ₱43 billion intended for government workers’ salaries and benefits to the Unprogrammed Appropriations (UA) under the proposed 2026 national budget, warning it puts legally mandated compensation at risk.
Tinio said the ratified 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) moved ₱10.77 billion for salary upgrades and ₱32.47 billion for retirement and terminal leave benefits from guaranteed funds—the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF) and Pension and Gratuity Fund (PGF)—to a new UA item labeled “For Payment of Personnel Services Requirements.”
“This is a brutal betrayal of our civil servants. Following the ratified bicameral report, the General Appropriations Act has deliberately turned the mandatory benefits of hundreds of thousands of government employees, including our teachers, as well as military and uniformed personnel, into a mere suggestion, subject to the availability of funds,” Tinio said.
“They have chosen to guarantee billions in new lump-sum ‘LGU pork’ under the Local Government Support Fund while putting the rightful compensation and retirement security of public sector workers on the chopping block,” he added.
Funds under the UA are released only if government revenues exceed targets or if additional loans are secured, making the benefits uncertain.
“Mula sa tiyak na pondo dahil nasa regular or programmed budget, naging hindi tiyak dahil nilipat sa ‘standby’ or unprogrammed budget. Samakatwid ginawang alanganin ang pagbayad sa mga benepisyong ito,” Tinio said.
“Ginawa na ito sa atin nitong 2025. Hindi pa binibigay ang buong SRI (₱20,000 Service Recognition Incentive) dahil sa kakulangan ng pondo. Ngayon, isinusugal na nila ang sahod at pensiyon natin para sa susunod na taon. Ito ay isang malinaw na patakaran ng pagpapabaya at pagsasakripisyo sa kapakanan ng mga kawani at guro,” he added.
Tinio said the transfer made room for additional lump-sum allocations for local government units, which he noted have increased by more than ₱54 billion.
He also warned the move could be meant to shield the UA from a possible presidential veto amid calls to scrap unprogrammed appropriations.
“They are hiding behind the needs of teachers and civil servants to preserve a system of unprogrammed funds that has become a cesspool of corruption. Ilalagay ang pondo para sa mga guro, kawani, at maging mga sundalo at pulis na retirado sa UA, para gamiting pansalag sa mga kritisismo. They will say: ‘Kapag tinanggal ang UA, hindi na mababayaran ang suweldo at pensyon ng mga kawani.’ This is manipulative and cruel,” Tinio said.
The lawmaker renewed his call to abolish the UA and urged the Executive to submit a supplemental budget restoring the ₱43.245 billion for government workers’ salary upgrades and retirement benefits.