House Speaker Dy Vows "Responsive, Accountable" Process for ₱7.2-Trillion 2027 Budget as NEP Deadline Nears

House Speaker Faustino Dy III said the chamber will build on transparency reforms introduced during last year's budget cycle to ensure the proposed ₱7.2-trillion 2027 national budget is "responsive, accountable and focused" on the needs of Filipinos, according to Philstar.com. Dy's assurance, given August 2, 2026, comes as the House prepares to begin deliberations once the executive branch formally transmits the National Expenditure Program (NEP) — expected before the August 14 constitutional deadline. ## What Dy said The NEP will serve as the basis for the House's work on the General Appropriations Act, the law that ultimately authorizes government spending for the year. Dy said the reforms his chamber initiated during the 2026 budget process "were good and transparent," and that the House "will just build upon these measures to further promote transparency" rather than start from scratch. "I believe we should incorporate important security measures to ensure that the 2027 budget we pass is truly sound," he said. Dy also pointed to the House's newly launched LegisHear program, a nationwide public-consultation initiative, as a complement to the formal budget process, saying it would give lawmakers "a better understanding of the priorities and concerns of communities across the country" before appropriations are finalized. He said the chamber remains committed to preserving the safeguards it built into the appropriations process while continuing to refine them. ## The number and the constraint The proposed 2027 budget of ₱7.2 trillion is about 6%, or roughly ₱407 billion, larger than the current ₱6.793-trillion 2026 budget, and is equivalent to about 21.7% of gross domestic product, according to figures reported by the Philippine News Agency and the Inquirer. Under the Constitution, the executive branch has 30 days from the opening of Congress's second regular session to transmit the NEP, putting the deadline at August 14. The Department of Budget and Management has already signaled that the spending plan faces constraints. Even as it prepared the budget call for 2027, the DBM has publicly acknowledged what earlier Inquirer reporting described as "very narrow fiscal space," citing rising debt-service costs and automatic transfers to local government units as pressures squeezing room for new discretionary spending. That warning follows Bureau of the Treasury data showing the government's first-half 2026 fiscal deficit widened to ₱786.8 billion, with interest payments alone reaching ₱483.7 billion — a 16.6% jump from the same period last year. ## Context The 2027 budget process unfolds against the backdrop of the flood-control corruption scandal that dominated the previous two budget cycles, prompting both chambers of Congress to publicize new bidding-transparency and project-monitoring measures for infrastructure spending. The House and Senate have each pointed to those reforms — along with newer measures like LegisHear — as evidence that lessons from the scandal are being institutionalized into the appropriations process, though outside groups have not yet had the chance to independently assess how the reforms will function once the 2027 NEP reaches committee-level scrutiny. As of this writing, no opposition lawmaker or civil-society watchdog had issued a public response specifically to Dy's August 2 statement; broader concerns about the budget's overall size and the government's fiscal space have instead centered on the DBM's own cautionary statements. ### Sources - [Speaker vows transparent process for 2027 national budget](https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2026/08/02/2546426/speaker-vows-transparent-process-2027-national-budget) — Philstar.com, Daphne Galvez - [PBBM admin proposes P7.2-T budget for 2027](https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1278181) — Philippine News Agency - [Gov't proposes P7.2-trillion spending bill for 2027](https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2253996/govt-proposes-p7-2-t-spending-bill-for-2027) — Inquirer.net - [Marcos Government Asks Congress for ₱7.2-Trillion 2027 Budget Amid Warnings of "Very Narrow Fiscal Space"](https://pulpulitiko.com/articles/marcos-government-p7-2-trillion-2027-budget-congress-second-regular-session-july-2026) — Pulpulitiko, prior coverage - [Government's H1 Budget Gap Widens to ₱786.8 Billion as Debt-Service Costs Jump 16.6%](https://pulpulitiko.com/articles/ph-fiscal-deficit-widens-786-8-billion-h1-2026-debt-service-costs-july-2026) — Pulpulitiko, prior coverage