As both houses of Congress continue their bicameral conference committee discussions on the 2026 budget bill, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson is confident that the Senate will fight all the way to ensure next year’s budget is pork-free.
Lacson, an eagle-eyed watchdog of the national budget, said this includes the Senate’s resolution to ratify the enrolled or final version of the budget bill to prevent the possibility of last-minute insertions.
“The budget must be pork-free. It will be too much if despite the fallout of the corruption behind the flood control project mess, there are still those who want to exploit public funds,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino in an interview on DWIZ radio.
“The bicam could be a matter of give-and-take but we must ensure the integrity of the budget and not allow self-interest. The interest of constituents is important but not the interest of kickbacks in infrastructure projects,” he added.
In Filipino: Lacson: Lalaban Hanggang Dulo ang Senado para sa Pork-Free na Badyet sa Bicam
He said that aside from the reforms the Senate made in its version of the budget bill, Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senate finance committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian introduced a “novel idea” to have senators ratify not just the bicameral conference committee report but the enrolled bill.
“One more thing we will do is we’ll ratify not the bicam report but the final version which is the enrolled bill, which incorporates the bicam report,” Lacson said.
Lacson said the Senate made several reforms in its version of the 2026 budget bill, including:
* Removing the allocables from the budget bill. Lacson referred to allocables as the new pork barrel because they allow funding for projects before they are even identified – opening the door for other abuses such as rigged bidding for contracts benefiting favored players.
* Removing the Sustainable Infra Projects Alleviating Gaps (SIPAG), many of whose items had the same names as – and thus potential duplicates of – those under the Basic Infrastructure Programs (BIP) in the Department of Public Works and Highways’ budget.
* Trimming the unprogrammed allocations to include only funding for legitimate items such as foreign-assisted projects and the AFP modernization program.
This is aside from making the budget process transparent through livestreaming, from the committee hearings to the bicameral meetings.
“One more good thing is that all of those who introduce amendments will have a sense of responsibility to make sure their projects are free of corruption because projects that go wrong will be traced to them,” he added.
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Lacson: Lalaban Hanggang Dulo ang Senado para sa Pork-Free na Badyet sa Bicam
Ngayo’y tinatalakay sa bicameral conference committee ang panukalang 2026 budget, kumpiyansa si Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson na lalaban hanggang dulo ang Senado upang matiyak na walang pork ang badyet.
Ani Lacson, na mahigpit na tagapagbantay ng kaban ng bayan, kabilang sa paninindigan ng Senado ang pagratipika ang enrolled o pinal na bersyon ng budget bill upang maiwasan ang posibilidad ng mga last-minute insertions.
“Dapat maging pork-free. Kasi sobra naman kung ang daming makakasuhan, meron pa ring mag-insist na gumawa ng kalokohan at pagkakitaan ng public fund. Sagad na sa buto ang kagahaman noon,” ani Lacson sa isang panayam sa DWIZ.
“Give-and-take ito, to a point importante ang budget mismo mapangalagaan natin ang integridad at maiwasan ang pansariling interest. Ok ang interest ng constituents pero pag umiral ang pansariling interest iisipin lang magkano ma-kickback lalo sa infra projects yan ang masama,” dagdag niya.
Sinabi ni Lacson na bukod sa mga repormang ipinasok ng Senado sa bersyon nito ng budget bill, naglatag sina Senate President Vicente Sotto III at Senate finance committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian ng bagong ideya na i-ratipika ng mga senador hindi lamang ang bicameral conference committee report kundi ang mismong enrolled bill.
“Ang isa pang gagawin namin sa Senate halimbawa nakumpleto na at may bicam report, hindi yan ang aming ira-ratify. Ang ira-ratify namin mismo ang final version which is the enrolled bill. Naka-incorporate doon ang bicam report,” ani Lacson.
Dagdag ni Lacson, ilang mahahalagang reporma ang ipinasok ng Senado sa bersyon nito ng 2026 budget bill, kabilang ang:
* Pag-alis ng allocables sa budget bill. Tinukoy ni Lacson ang allocables bilang bagong pork barrel dahil pinapayagan nitong pondohan ang mga proyekto kahit hindi pa tukoy, na nagbubukas ng pinto sa iba pang abuso tulad ng dayaan sa bidding na pabor sa piling mga kontratista.
* Pag-alis ng Sustainable Infra Projects Alleviating Gaps (SIPAG), na marami umanong item ay kapareho ng — at posibleng doblado sa — mga proyekto sa ilalim ng Basic Infrastructure Programs (BIP) ng Department of Public Works and Highways.
* Pagbabawas sa unprogrammed appropriations upang matiyak na para lamang ito sa mga lehitimong gastusin tulad ng foreign-assisted projects at AFP modernization program.
Dagdag pa rito, aniya, tiniyak ng Senado ang transparency sa proseso ng badyet sa pamamagitan ng livestreaming mula sa mga committee hearing hanggang sa mga pulong ng bicameral conference committee.
“Ang magandang mangyayari ngayon magkaroon sila ng sense of responsibility bantayan ang in-introduce nilang amendment lalo sa infra at maski soft project. Yan ang magandang dulot na transparent and identifiable ang nag-introduce ng amendment,” ani Lacson.
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