Senators turned up the heat on the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) over its handling of unprogrammed appropriations, warning that the ballooning funds are eerily becoming the agency’s version of pork barrel.
“Ang magic, nasa DBM,” Senator Imee Marcos said, stressing that the DBM should be held accountable for allowing questionable items to bypass programmed budgets.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, revealed that ghost flood control projects were inserted into the national budget through this mechanism.
“Dapat pag-isipan niyo nang mabuti itong unprogrammed funds,” Gatchalian told DBM officials, stressing that nearly half of infrastructure projects under the scheme were flood control items.
“Nagiging pork barrel ito ng DBM eh, sa totoo lang, dahil isu-submit sa inyo, tapos kayo rin ang nagde-determine kung ano ang papasok at kung ano ang hindi,” he said during the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on Thursday, September 18.
Senator Marcos was more blunt, saying: “Baka yung mga hinahanap nating ghost project, wala na sa listahan ng public works, ang DBM naman ang dapat managot.”
She cited the ballooning of unprogrammed funds—from ₱176.32 billion in 2021 to ₱807.16 billion in 2023.
“Itong unprogrammed, lumobo nang katakot-takot,” she said, adding that the lack of itemized listings for 2023 and 2024 effectively allowed the agency to operate with a “magic fund” shielded from oversight.
“Noong 2023, naging ₱807.16 billion, walang listahan, walang nakakaalam, ang magic, nasa DBM po, 2024 naging ₱731.45 billion,” Senator Marcos said.
Senator Marcos said the rapid escalation in allocations, initially for pandemic-related spending such as vaccines and health worker incentives, now included poorly defined “government infrastructure
“‘Yung ating mga hinahanap na mga ghost projects ay ghost ab initio. Sa umpisa pa lamang, ghost na sila kasi nasa listahan ng unrpogrammed na ang tanging nakasabi lamang ay ‘government infrastructure projects’,” she added. projects” lumped under DBM’s discretion.
For Senator Gatchalian, the insertion of flood control projects into the unprogrammed budget despite their deletion from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) list is proof of systemic abuse.
“Naipakita ko kanina na halos 40-50% ng infrastructure projects galing sa unprogrammed ay flood control,” Senator Gatchalian said.
“Hindi kasi ito pwedeng maulit sa 2026,” he warned.
DBM Undersecretary Rolando Toledo acknowledged the concerns, admitting that unprogrammed appropriations have complicated fiscal management.
“Medyo nagkakagulo po ang fiscal position natin, as far as the unprogrammed appropriations are concerned,” he said.
Providing context, Senator Bong Go explained that this loophole stems from the exclusion of legislative oversight over projects to be included under unprogrammed appropriations.
“Ang pinagkaiba nitong unprogrammed appropriations sa GAA (General Appropriations Act), kami as legislators, pwede naming makita at mareview during budget deliberation [ang nasa GAA], while itong unprogrammed appropriation as legislator, hindi na namin ito marereview. Tapos na po, ibig sabihin, purely prerogative na ito ng executive,” Go said.
