The House of Representatives began deliberations on the proposed ₱7.2-trillion 2027 national budget this week, with the appropriations committee's review kicking off Aug. 17 through a briefing from the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) on financing sources and expenditure levels, according to a report by The Philippine Star.
House appropriations panel chairperson, Nueva Ecija Rep. Michaela Suansing, scheduled the start of deliberations less than a week after the executive branch formally transmitted the National Expenditure Program to the chamber on Aug. 11, Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. told the Philippine Star. The DBCC — composed of the budget, economy planning, and finance departments along with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas — will brief lawmakers on where the money will come from and how it will be divided among departments, agencies, and government-owned and controlled corporations. The briefing kicks off a 53-day timetable aimed at securing House approval of the budget by Oct. 9.
Where the money would go
According to the Department of Budget and Management figures cited by the Philippine Star, the largest proposed allocations for 2027 are education at ₱976 billion; public works at ₱644 billion, including more than ₱100 billion earmarked for flood control; health at ₱353.8 billion, including PhilHealth; local government at ₱332.5 billion; defense at ₱328.8 billion; and transportation at ₱302.2 billion. Agriculture would receive ₱261.7 billion, social welfare ₱241.6 billion, state universities and colleges ₱176.5 billion, and the judiciary ₱86.3 billion.
Transparency pledges — and a live controversy over "leadership funds"
House Speaker Faustino Dy III said the chamber would subject the executive's proposal to "rigorous scrutiny" to ensure spending produces "concrete benefits for ordinary Filipinos," while House secretary-general Cheloy Garafil said a nationwide public consultation initiative called "LegisHear" would feed community input into the budget process, with legs already held in Mindanao and the Visayas and more planned for South Cotabato and Capiz in September. "No secrets. The public should know," Abante said, describing the leadership's transparency commitment.
On the Senate side, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said he trusts finance committee chairman JV Ejercito to continue transparency measures and ensure the budget contains no "leadership fund" or unallocated "allocables," the Philippine Star reported. Gatchalian's comment followed testimony from former Department of Public Works and Highways secretary Manuel Bonoan at the Sandiganbayan, where Bonoan claimed a leadership fund ranging from ₱500 million to ₱1 billion per senator existed within the DPWH budget. Gatchalian told radio stations dwIZ and dzMM he was not aware of any such fund — a direct, on-the-record denial of a claim raised in ongoing flood-control graft litigation before the anti-graft court.
Why it matters
The 2027 proposal is 6% larger than the current ₱6.793-trillion budget and comes as the Department of Budget and Management itself has previously warned of "very narrow fiscal space," with debt-service costs and automatic transfers to local governments squeezing room for new spending. The Bonoan testimony adds a fresh accountability dimension to this year's budget cycle: if substantiated, allegations of an undisclosed per-senator discretionary fund inside the DPWH budget would echo the flood-control corruption scandal that has dominated congressional and Ombudsman proceedings through 2026.
What remains unresolved
Neither Bonoan's specific evidence for the "leadership fund" claim nor any Senate investigation into it was detailed in the available Philippine Star report beyond Gatchalian's denial. It is also not yet clear whether House deliberations will scrutinize the DPWH's ₱644-billion allocation — more than ₱100 billion of which is for flood control — in light of the corruption cases still working through the Sandiganbayan and Ombudsman. Pulpulitiko will continue to track both the budget calendar and the leadership-fund allegation as they develop.
Sources
- House deliberates on 2027 budget this week — The Philippine Star, Aug. 16, 2026