House opposition, Sotto call for removal of unprogrammed funds from 2026 budget

Opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives have joined Senate President Vicente Sotto III in calling for the removal of unprogrammed funds from the proposed P 6.793 trillion national budget for 2026 to prevent the abuse of public funds.

House Deputy Minority Leader and ML party-list Rep. Leila de Lima stated that unprogrammed appropriations have been a source of abuse in the 2023, 2024, and 2025 budgets.

De Lima recommended removing these funds entirely, suggesting that supplemental budgets could be used for additional spending if necessary.

Akbayan Party-list Rep. Percival Cendaña argued that urgent and important projects should not be relegated to unprogrammed appropriations.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III initially proposed the removal of all unprogrammed funds, with only foreign-assisted projects remaining exempt, to enhance transparency and prevent potential lawmaker insertions for kickback schemes.

He emphasized that all projects should be clearly itemized with identified proponents before the budget reaches its second reading.

Unprogrammed appropriations, which can only be tapped if the government collects excess revenues or secures additional foreign-assisted loans, have been scrutinized after lawmakers' insertions pushed the 2025 unprogrammed funds to P531.7 billion before President Marcos vetoed P168.24 billion from the total.

Sotto believes such last-minute amendments or additions often lead to "insertions" that evade proper scrutiny.