Akbayan Party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña has underscored the need to remove unprogrammed appropriations in the proposed P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026, especially with the issue on anomalous or "ghost" flood control projects. (Video courtesy of House of Representatives)
00:00The biggest budget line under a program of appropriations, as mentioned earlier, is the support to foreign assistance projects.
00:06Nabagita po yung amount kanina, pero just for the recollection of this representation, magkano nga po li ang inilaan natin dito?
00:17For support to foreign assistance projects, Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleague, for the 2026 NEP, P97.305 billion pesos po.
00:26So, P97.3 billion pesos.
00:31Nung na-review po natin ang list ng foreign assistance projects for the fiscal years, 2023 to 2025, a big chunk of them are infrastructure projects.
00:43Kung puro infra ang mga forest assistance projects, is it safe to assume na halos sa infra projects din mapupunta itong budget na ito for 2026?
00:53Okay.
00:56Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleague, the budget of, would that pertain to the unprogrammed appropriations?
01:03Yes, for the support to foreign assistance project for 2026.
01:06Thanks.
01:32Thanks.
01:33Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleague, I have here the list of foreign-assisted projects
01:54that are programmed—programmed may not be the term, but have been identified to be lodged
02:00within the P97.3 billion under unprogrammed appropriations.
02:06Yes, we recognize that a lot of these relate to infrastructure projects.
02:11However, there are also projects that are geared towards different agencies in different sectors.
02:18Halimbawa po, under DAR, while this is also an infrastructure project, it's a bridge that would be built for the benefit of farmers.
02:28Ang tawag po dito, pang-araying tulay para sa bagong bayanihan na magsasaka.
02:33That amounts about 1.9 billion pesos.
02:37Apart from those lodged within DPWH and DOTR that are mostly infrastructure projects,
02:43there are also projects amounting to 33.7 billion under the DSWD.
02:49So, a majority of this actually po is what we call reducing food insecurity and undernutrition
02:59with electronic vouchers refuel project.
03:01So, 24.1 billion pesos po yun.
03:04Meron din pong panahon ng pagkilos, Philippine Community Resilience Project or the PCRP amounting to 9.5 billion pesos.
03:12So, if we look at the breakdown, and this is something that we could also share with our distinguished colleague,
03:19there are big-ticket items here, around over a third, actually, of the foreign assistant projects
03:28identified under the Unprogrammed Appropriations that are non-infrastructure in nature.
03:33So, it means that more than half of these projects are infrastructure in nature.
03:38Is that correct?
03:39That is correct, Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleague.
03:42Mr. Speaker, Madam Chairperson of the Committee of Appropriations and our sponsor,
03:49yun naman pong second biggest ay yung Strengthening Assistance for Government Infrastructure and Social Programs.
03:56Ang nakalagay po dito, ang nilaan natin ay 80.9 billion pesos.
04:00So, sigurado po ako, ito ay mapupunta rin sa infrastructure.
04:03Kung susumahin po natin, halos 70% na Unprogrammed Appropriations sa 2026 Budget ay infrastructure project.
04:11We could have invested this in health.
04:14Kung tutusin, halos 3 billion lang ang lamang na Unprogrammed Appropriations sa DOH Budget.
04:19We could have invested this in education.
04:22Pero bakit puro infra pa rin?
04:24Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleague, upon conferring with the DBM, and this is something that we could look further into,
04:42kasi dalawa po yung pwedeng ipasok sa sagip.
04:46The first would be the social programs, and the second would be infrastructure.
04:50If the collective wisdom of Congress is to take out that provision that allows the release for infrastructure
04:57and gear it mostly towards social programs, including health, that would be something that the DBM would be amenable to considering din po.
05:08And we welcome that position of the DBM, Mr. Speaker, and Madam Sponsor.
05:13May kasabihan po ang mga baguets.
05:15Ang sabi nila, fool me one, shame on you.
05:18Fool me twice, shame on me.
05:20Pero taon-taon na lang nakakalula ang budget na infrastructure projects, kahit malaking source ito ng corruption.
05:28If the House passes this, ang itatanong ng taong bayan, fool us thrice, four times, five times, hanggang hindi na mabilang.
05:36And if that happens, who are we to shame now?
05:41Let me now proceed to my next set of questions.
05:44I apologize to my colleagues in the Committee on Rules, as I promised that I will keep this below 10 minutes, but that is not possible.
05:53Naka-10 minutes naman po ako ng aking pass to interpolation, so I think I have a pre-pass to extend a bit more beyond the 10-minute commitment.
06:02Let's now go to the public health emergency benefits.
06:05Nandun din po ito, sa kategoryang ito.
06:07Para saan po ang public health emergency benefits and allowances for healthcare and non-healthcare workers worth 6.8 billion pesos?
06:17Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, so that particular item, public health emergency benefits and allowances for healthcare and non-healthcare workers amounting to around 2 billion pesos,
06:38actually exactly 2 billion pesos under the gap, is geared towards paying the arrears of COVID-19 allowance and compensation of eligible healthcare and non-healthcare workers from July 1, 2021.
06:59From July 1, 2021, so ito po ay utang ng gobyerno sa mga healthcare workers at non-healthcare workers nung panahon pa ng COVID-19. Is that correct, Madam Sponsor, Mr. Speaker?
07:14That is correct, Mr. Speaker, my distinguished colleague.
07:18Tama rin po ba na delayed na ito ng 4 years kasi 2021 pa?
09:02Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleague, upon conferring with the DBM,
09:28there is a process by which the hospitals could submit the list of the public health practitioners
09:39who would be eligible to receive this.
09:42The first would be the hospitals were delayed in submitting the list of healthcare workers to be validated under this program.
09:55Second, they logged that into the portal.
09:59Once they logged that into the portal, the DOH then validates the list submitted by the hospitals to see who they released.
10:08Once the DOH has done that validation, that's the time that the DBM would release it.
10:13Actually, the $2 billion indicated here would be the last tranche.
10:22Because in previous years, the DBM has actually already released P127 billion towards public health emergency benefits and allowances.
10:32So, it upon 2 billion pesos, but most of the allowances have been paid in prior years.
10:41So, P127 billion in total to be exact.
10:45We are asking these questions, Mr. Speaker and Madam Sponsor, because it's both a fiscal and moral responsibility to the front liners who bravely stood with us, protected us during the pandemic.
11:00And this is one concern that we should always be mindful of because it is telling of how underwhelming our appreciation of our healthcare workers is.
11:13As closing, Madam Sponsor, Mr. Speaker, my dear colleagues, I reiterate and share the call to zero out on program appropriations until we ensure that our institutions are fully equipped to operate with transparency, accountability and immunity from corruption.
11:33Don't let us continue to abuse the land and let us start now.
11:40Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker and thank you very much to the Honorable Percy Dania for the interpellation.
11:51We will take those into consideration.
11:53Again, primarily the point that has been raised with regard to potentially taking out infrastructure from the allowable purposes under.
12:04It's not the name of the name of SAGSP because it's only social programs.
12:12So I think a lot of the questions pertaining to the program appropriations emanate from being able to disperse from SAGSP towards infrastructure programs.
12:23So that is something that we will take into consideration as we craft the final version of the gap for the House of Representatives.
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