THE 2025 General Appropriations Bill that has been approved by both chambers under the guise of Bicameral Conference Committee looks more like a direct defiance of the 1987 Constitution.
For one, the 1987 Constitution explicitly listed down its top budget priorities which include education, health, social services and agriculture. Hence, the budget for these agencies should be receiving the biggest chunk of the annual national budget.
Likewise on the list are science and technology; labor; environment; indigenous cultural communities; intellectual property, and freedom of speech.
Pork Barrel, As Usual
However, the Philippine Congress allowed what looks more like multi-billion pork barrel insertions in the 2025 national budget, as the 2025 GAB slashed funds intended for the education sector as it pours resources to congressional pork barrel.
While the term “pork barrel” is nowhere in the 2025 GAB, the budget accorded to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is from where the congressional representatives have been using to defray the cost of their infrastructure projects.
Notably, the persistent presence of pork barrel in the national budget has long been an issue hounding the integrity of the budget as government funds are at the discretion of the “powers that may be.”
Who could that be? Aside from the President who has the last say on big-bucket contracts, he maintains a circle of minions to whom he owes the presidency – and his political allies, of course.
DPWH Hosting
In a statement sent via email by former Senate President Franklin Drilon, he said: “Same as budgets before. Pork barrel is ever-present. And there is no denying about it. It is present and it is funded by removing allocations for education, social welfare, etcetera.”
The bicameral conference committee added a total of P288 to the DPWH’s allocation. Initially, the DPWH budget submitted by the President amounted to P825 billion, but after congressional adjustments, it surged to P1.113 trillion.
“This is the pork barrel in DPWH alone. We have not yet seen the extent of similar realignments in other agencies,” Drilon pointed out.
To make way for a P288 billion increase in the DPWH budget, the bicameral conference committee slashed allocations from critical social programs, including P10 billion from the Department of Education (DepEd), P50 billion from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), P50 billion from PhilHealth subsidies, and P30 billion from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), among others.
‘Same as budgets before. Pork barrel is ever-present. And there is no denying about it. It is present and it is funded by removing allocations for education, social welfare, etc.’
Pork Behind AKAP
Aside from the DPWH, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) also plays host to another form of pork barrel — the so-called Ayuda sa Kapos sa Kita Program or AKAP.
Under the bicam-approved national budget, funds were removed in the Senate version but the bicameral conference committee restored half, or P26 billion, of the original P39 billion. The Senate earlier opposed it because the House of Representatives did not allocate funds for senators.
In the final version of the proposed budget, P21 billion was allocated to Congress, and P5 billion to the Senate. If the funds were divided equally among all representatives (including partylist congressmen), each would get P83 million. If the partylist congressmen are excluded, district representatives’ allocations will amount to P103 million.
In the Senate, each would receive up to P208 million.
House Speaker Martin Romualdez maintains that AKAP is an essential program designed to provide assistance to low-income families affected by inflation and other circumstances.
Duplicity With Others
Romualdez’s AKAP adds up to a long list of assistance programs embarking on what many referred to as “ayuda” – the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations, TUPAD or Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers, special pension for poor senior citizens, Sustainable Livelihood Program, Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially-Incapacitated Patients, and many others.
AKAP, which was first inserted into the 2024 budget, has been facing widespread criticism as funds were used to defray the cost of a nationwide signature campaign for charter change through a People’s Initiative.
AKAP and similar assistance programs are no different from the pork barrel funds congressmen and senators used for patronage politics.
They play a significant role in politics, especially with an election a few months away.
In the past, assistance programs have been used to secure the loyalty of representatives and senators, and to buy votes and influence.
Addressing Insertions
The current system of pork barrel allocation differs from last year’s budget, where unprogrammed funds were inflated to accommodate realigned projects. In next year’s budget, pork barrel insertions are in the line agencies particularly the DPWH.
The Constitution clearly provides that the education sector (not just the DepEd) shall have the highest priority in the allocation of public funds in the budget.
To address the issue of budget insertions in the 2025 General Appropriations Bill, the President has two options – either to veto the bicam-backed bill on the national budget, or ask Congress to reconvene the bicameral conference committee if only to make some “adjustments,” if only to ensure that this complies with the constitutional mandate.
