Transparency and Accountability in Congressional Budget Deliberations: A Shift towards Openness

Strategic Insights -

In a major breakthrough for transparency and accountability in public budgeting, Speaker Martin Romualdez has announced that public watchdogs will be allowed to observe all stages of congressional budget deliberations, including the secretive bicameral conference. This move comes after President Marcos' challenge to make the national budget less prone to corruption, as expressed in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday. Joint resolutions have been filed in both the House and Senate seeking to open the bicameral conference committee budget deliberations to the public, either in person or online.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Speaker has pledged to open the bicameral conference to civil society observers, a historic first, allowing watchdogs to participate in all levels of budget deliberation.
  • Joint resolutions have been filed in the House and Senate seeking to make the bicameral conference committee budget deliberations transparent and accountable, with the aim of preventing irregularities and distortions in the national budget.
  • Critics have called the 2025 budget the "most bungled" in recent history, citing irregular insertions and last-minute realignments to the Department of Public Works and Highways during the bicameral conference.
  • Senators have claimed that the bicameral conference's deliberations on the P6.326-trillion 2025 national budget were attended by budget irregularities and distortions, including the violation of the constitutionally mandated provision that education shall have the highest budgetary priority.
  • Public watchdogs have tagged the bicameral conference as the "third congress" because it has the power to realign billions of pesos of public funds and insert major amendments to the GAB, often away from the public eye.
  • The President has threatened to return a general appropriations bill (GAB) that is not aligned with the Executive Department's National Expenditure Program (NEP), even if it means adopting a reenacted budget.

Statistics:

  • The 2025 national budget is P6.326 trillion.
  • The 2025 budget has been criticized for irregular insertions and last-minute realignments to the Department of Public Works and Highways, totaling billions of pesos.

Sources:

  • "Speaker seeks to open bicameral conference to civil society" (The Manila Times, August 8, 2023)
  • Joint Resolution No. 2 seeking to open the bicameral conference committee budget deliberations to the public (House of Representatives, August 8, 2023)
  • Joint Resolution No. 1 seeking transparency and accountability in the bicameral conference's process for the national funding (Senate of the Philippines, August 8, 2023)
  • State of the Nation Address (Sona) of President Marcos (August 7, 2023)