Why the budget process of Philippine Congress is prone to corruption

Did you know it’s tradition in the House for lawmakers to approve the proposed national budget before introducing individual amendments?

That raises a key question: What exactly did they pass if there’s no final version of the national spending bill yet?

Rappler political reporter Dwight de Leon explains how this process — long a hotbed for transparency issues — also leaves it vulnerable to corruption.

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Congressman Toby Tiangco has a point — whether you like it or not.

The House’s creation of a so-called small committee to handle amendments to the proposed national budget has long been a problem.

I’m Dwight de Leon. Let’s break this down.

You need to know this — because it’s your money.

In theory, passing the national budget should be like passing any other bill.

When a bill reaches the House plenary, lawmakers deliberate on it.

According to House rules, this is the usual sequence for any bill: Debate is formally closed, all proposed committee and individual amendments are considered on the floor, then the bill is voted on for second reading.

But with the budget, it’s the other way around.

After debates are terminated and committee amendments are considered, the House votes on second reading.

Only after that do they accept individual amendments from lawmakers.

That task is assigned to a small committee — made up of just a few selected House members. In recent years, it’s been just four lawmakers.

Their discussions don’t happen on the plenary floor for the public to see. Instead, they happen behind closed doors, and according to Tiangco, there are no available minutes.

The media isn’t given a copy of the amendments the small committee approves, so it’s unclear what version of the General Appropriations Bill was actually passed.

This isn’t new. It’s a tradition inherited by Speaker Martin Romualdez’s leadership.

If you check the House journal, there’s already mention of a small committee as early as 2010.

Even then, Edcel Lagman said the creation of a small committee has been an old practice.

What’s the House’s justification? Tradition — the same excuse used when the Office of the President’s budget swiftly hurdles the committee. The Office of the Vice President once enjoyed the same treatment.

“They say this has been the practice since time immemorial. If each member stands up to propose individual amendments, the budget process will never end,” House Deputy Minority Leader Antonio Tinio said.

“You really have no idea anymore what was removed, what projects were inserted, and why,” he added.

This small committee is a hotbed for transparency issues.

Over the years, the practice has only gotten worse — and more illogical.

For example, in 2019, after former president Rodrigo Duterte certified the 2020 budget as urgent, the House passed the budget on second and third reading on the same day.

Only after that did the small committee meet to introduce amendments.

So naturally, the question is: What exactly did the House vote on if there was no final version of the budget yet?

“This process will only allow insertions without even the benefit of further discussion by this House. If you want to be transparent, it would be better if individual amendments were proposed openly,” 19th Congress opposition congressman Carlos Zarate said in 2019.

This setup has remained the norm in the House. It’s been continued under Romualdez’s leadership since 2022.

The budget gets passed on second and third reading on the same day, and only then does the small committee start working. So the House votes on the budget — even without a finalized version.

Tiangco didn’t support Romualdez’s bid for continued speakership and didn’t join the House minority. He chose to be independent in the 20th Congress, so he doesn’t have to “toe the line.”

One of his main calls is to abolish the small committee.

“It’s like giving the small committee a blank check. Why are we not following the process on the most important bill we pass?” Tiangco said.

His position came right after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address, where he made it clear he won’t sign a budget proposal from the House unless it’s fully aligned with his administration’s programs.

In short, he’d rather have a reenacted budget than one riddled with insertions.

“I will not approve any budget that is not aligned with the government’s plan for the Filipino people,” Marcos said in July.

If the president’s optics are that he means business, the House also seems willing to abide.

A week later, the House announced reforms in its budget process.

They said they’d scrap the small committee and replace it with an appropriations sub-committee that will receive amendments.

They also said they won’t accept any more amendments after the budget passes second reading.

And the entire budget deliberation process — including the bicam — will be opened to civil society observers and the general public.

“We will prove to the public that Congress has nothing to hide,” Suansing said.

Former finance undersecretary Cielo Magno said the proposed reforms are welcome, but the House must ensure budget documents are easily accessible to the public.

She also hopes for a matrix that tracks and summarizes the thousands of budget amendments.

Tiangco, though, isn’t fully convinced. If the House is serious, he says former appropriations chair Zaldy Co should release the small committee’s amendments to the 2025 budget.

This year’s General Appropriations Act is one of the most controversial in recent history — with budget cuts to the Department of Education and state insurer PhilHealth, and billions poured into aid programs that critics believe could serve as pork barrel for lawmakers.

To this day, the Senate and the House keep pointing fingers over who made the last-minute amendments.

Is it really that hard to trace—if only a few people were involved at the final stages of the process?

We’re not even talking about corruption yet. We’re still just talking about transparency.

If there’s nothing to hide, the process should be open to the public. It’s not rocket science.

If you want to support the call for #OpenBicam, download the Rappler Communities app and let’s talk more there. – Rappler.com

The italicized text above is an English translation, generated with an OpenAI model, of a partially modified transcript from a video report written and produced by Rappler reporter Dwight de Leon. The translation has been reviewed by an editor prior to publication.

Reporter, writer, video editor, producer: Dwight de Leon
Co-producer: Camille Zarate
Videographer: Leone Requilman
Graphic Artists: David Castuciano, Marian Hukom, Guia Abogado
Investigative Head: Chay Hofileña
Supervising producer: Beth Frondoso