THE MOST SENSIBLE proposal to ensure that the 2026 budget onwards would be free of insertions that usually end up pocketted by legislators, Supreme Court Justice Ramon Paul Hernando proposed that unprogrammed funds be legislated.
“At the core of this controversy lies an undeniable truth: Unprogrammed funds in the GAA (General Appropriations Act) are unconstitutional,” SC Justice Hernando said.
Legislating unprogrammed funds would prevent more dubious budget insertions in future budget deliberations, and legislating it with a special appropriations law would make everything transparent.
Hernando raised this proposal in agreement with his 14 SC colleagues to declare unconstitutional the executive department’s impounding of P60 billion from Philippine Health Insurance Corp. funds, which the SC ordered returned to PhilHealth coffers last Dec. 3.
In a 33-page concurring and dissenting opinion – the dissent of which delved on the unconstitutionality of unprogrammed appropriations as a source of corruption – Hernando, the senior magistrate, noted that such funds “do not relate to any appropriation for expenditures” and are thus “prohibited” in the charter.
“Instead, unprogrammed appropriations should be legislated through a special appropriations law,” he wrote, specifically citing Article 6 Section 25(2) of the 1987 Constitution, that bars any provision from inclusion in the General Appropriations Bill, unless there is specific particularity.
“At the core of this controversy lies an undeniable truth: Unprogrammed funds in the GAA (General Appropriations Act) are unconstitutional, reported the Philippine Star.
They create an unregulated space where discretion replaces discipline and where the temptations of greed and corruption inevitably find room to operate,” Hernando said.
In his review of congressional wisdom where he cited deliberations among lawmakers, which included constitutional commission hearings in the 1935 Constitution and the Administrative Code of 1987, Hernando also discovered “structural defects” in unprogrammed funds.
“As presently conceived, they have no place in a constitutional order that requires appropriations to rest on defined sources of financing and prohibits riders in the GAA.
Fidelity to that trust requires that every peso collected for health be spent for health and for no other purpose,” he reiterated.
Newbie Rep. Robert Nazal, of Bagong Henerasyon partylist, welcomed and commended Hernando’s dissenting opinion, saying it “strengthens” their “long-standing call to remove unprogrammed funds from the national budget starting 2026.”
“Justice Hernando’s opinion makes clear what we have been warning all along – this mechanism is prone to abuse and should no longer appear in the 2026 budget,” Nazal said.
LACSON BEGS OFF
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson criticized the funding approval for the controversial Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients, which has been criticized as the “new face of pork barrel.
Lacson refuses to sign the ratification of the 2026 budget if the bicameral conference committee pushes through with a large funding increase for controversial aid programs and multibillion-peso allocations for farm-to-market roads.
Lacson told dzBB on Sunday the approval of the P51.6 billion allocation for the Department of Health (DOH)’s controversial Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP), is the “new face of pork barrel.”
“Sorry, unless rectified in its final version, I cannot sign to ratify a bicam report with P51 billion for MAIFIP, with nothing but guarantee letters from politicians and is not compliant with the Universal Health Care Act,” Lacson said.
The Senate had earlier sought to realign much of MAIFIP’s funding toward Universal Health Care, citing long-standing concerns that the program could be vulnerable to political patron-age. The House version placed MAIFIP at P49.2 billion.
Lacson noted that MAIFIP should have been realigned to the Universal Health Care Act.
“Unless we adequately fund the UHC programs such that they cover all barangays and ensure zero billing, among others, we cannot fully implement the UHC law that we passed. All health-related funds must be subsumed under the Universal Health Care program of the Department of Health. Guarantee letters from politicians will only guarantee patronage politics but not the health care needs of Filipinos, especially the indigents,” he stressed.
He said safeguards could still be introduced through special provisions while bicam deliberations are ongoing, particularly to prevent assistance from being directed without proper assessment.
DOUBLING FMR FUNDS
Lacson will not also sign because of the doubling to P33 billion (instead of the P16 billion sought by the President) of the funds to the Department of Agriculture for farm-to-market roads, which the bicam allocated.
“I will not associate myself with the P33 billion spending for unplanned and unvetted farm-to-market roads,” he said.
The bicam debated for an hour last Saturday night over the proposed funding for FMRs, with senators raising concerns that these would be the next target for infrastructure corruption and congressmen insisting on doubling the funding.
Sen. Erwin Tulfo said he had objections due to a lack of assurance regarding safety measures in its implementation.
“This is such a huge amount. While I know that our farmers need this, the problem is that the public might think that we may have removed the flood control projects, but we replaced it with farm-to-market roads,” Tulfo said during the debates.
“The Filipino people who are watching us right now cannot help but think that there might be problems with this. That the issues in flood control will only transfer to farm-to-market roads,” he added.
Sen. Pia Cayetano, pointing out the large increase, underscored that the budget for FMRs for 2026 might be bloated to as high as P43 billion because of the P11 billion unreleased funds from 2025.
“That’s a lot. And we have to remember that this amount is (originally) roughly around P16 billion. It’s almost times three. I am surprised that the masterplan has yet to be developed,” Cayetano said.
Nueva Ecija Rep. Mika Suansing, House appropriations committee chair, clarified that the masterplan is already extensive but some far-flung areas are not yet included.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan backed doubling the FMR budget now that the DA has complied with technical requirements such as coordinates and specifications.
Sen. Loren Legarda noted that FMRs must be “according to the needs of the area, based on population, land area and others, and not through politically divided districts.”
The bicameral conference committee is still reconciling final provisions of the proposed 2026 General Appropriations Bill, which will be returned to both chambers for ratification, once finalized.