FY 2027 General Appropriations Bill Day 5 Part 1

Commission on Audit (COA): FY 2027 proposed budget and request. The Commission on Audit (COA) sponsor, Rep. John Tracy F. Cagas, presented a total of ₱16.46 billion including automatic appropriations; new appropriations subject to congressional approval were ₱14.774 billion. He compared the latter with a FY 2026 level of ₱14.415 billion, an increase he stated as ₱359.12 million or about 2.49%. In an interpellation, Cagas separately described COA’s original pre-NEP proposal as ₱17 billion and the FY 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP) amount as ₱15 billion, with ₱2 billion intended for technology not provided. These figures are not reconciled with the presentation’s total and new-appropriation figures. Rep. Antonio L. Tinio separately referred to a ₱14.7 billion proposed budget.

Components and restoration. Cagas listed FY 2027 maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) for the Information Systems Strategic Plan at ₱213.686 million and Citizen Participatory Audit participation by nongovernmental and people’s organizations at ₱40.734 million. He gave an unclear MOOE phrase, “P254 million and P420 pesos,” and later restated the combined amount as “244?254 million 120,000”; the exact total remains unresolved. For capital outlay he listed ₱484.617 million for buildings and structures, ₱161.523 million for furniture and fixtures, ₱5.6 million for transportation equipment and ₱525.405 million for information and communications technology equipment and software; he stated a ₱1.177145 billion total not included in the NEP and confirmed COA lacked funding for that equipment. He said the gap would delay technology adoption. Rep. Percival “Perci” Cendaña supported restoring the reduced capital outlay, and Rep. Tobias “Toby” M. Tiangco expressed full support for COA’s budget; neither support nor the interpellation termination records a restoration disposition.

Commission on Elections (COMELEC): FY 2027 proposed budget and election preparation. The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) sponsor, Rep. Keith Micah “Atty. Mike” D.L. Tan, presented a proposed FY 2027 NEP budget of ₱29.5 billion including automatic appropriations, ₱9.31 billion or 46 percent above the FY 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA) level of ₱20.2 billion. He said ₱23.92 billion was earmarked for preparations for the 2028 national and local elections. The sponsor presentation gave no separate original agency-request total.

Voting-machine request and restoration. During interpellation, Rep. Edgar R. Erice cited a ₱23 billion request for voting machines; Tan described the request at about ₱23.1 billion and later as ₱23.16 billion, while citing ₱21.66 billion in the current budget and stating that the FY 2027 proposal was ₱16 billion and the FY 2027 NEP was ₱21.66 billion. He connected the ₱23.16 billion request to an expected shortfall of 9,310 machines and longer precinct lines. These distinct proposal, NEP and request figures remain unreconciled. Rep. Sarah Jane I. Elago urged restoration of online-voting and voter-information and education programs to their FY 2026 level or an increase to meet voter-registration targets; Tan supported an increase to replace cuts and promised requested information. The exchange records advocacy and support, not a formal motion or appropriation disposition.

Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA): FY 2027 allocation, program amounts and additional request. The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) sponsor, Rep. Ma. Isabel L. Sagarbarria, presented a FY 2027 NEP allocation of ₱436,720,000. In a separate exchange, Rep. Iris Marie Demesa Montes cited ₱537 million for FY 2027 and described it as about ₱14 million above the current budget, while Sagarbarria characterized the proposal as a reduction; the unit gives no base total to reconcile the difference. For monitoring and evaluation (M&E) under the ease-of-doing-business program, Rep. Presley C. De Jesus cited ₱153 million for FY 2026 and ₱91 million in the FY 2027 NEP, a 40 percent decline by his account. He also cited MOOE declining from ₱90 million to ₱20 million, or 77.8 percent. Sagarbarria agreed the reduction constrained implementation and delayed systems for complaints and data security.

Sagarbarria said ARTA sought an additional ₱178,855,000 for FY 2027 digitalization, complaint-management systems, regional transactions, monitoring, enforcement and public awareness. De Jesus supported adding funds and urged the appropriations committee to do so; no formal increase motion or disposition is recorded. Sagarbarria stated ARTA’s FY 2025 budget as ₱493,514,359. De Jesus later referred to ₱97 million as ARTA’s FY 2027 budget, which Sagarbarria did not confirm or reconcile with the ₱91 million M&E NEP figure; the scopes are not established as the same. The additional request is distinct from an original agency submission, which was not stated.

Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC): FY 2027 NEP, proposal and restoration request. The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) sponsor, Rep. Ma. Isabel L. Sagarbarria, presented a FY 2027 NEP allocation of ₱144,870,000 and cited investment in information technology, including in-house artificial-intelligence analysis and blockchain analytics. In a later interpellation, she distinguished that NEP recommendation from AMLC’s proposal of ₱335,246,000; she cited the FY 2026 budget as ₱333 million and described the change to ₱335 million as a 0.64 percent increase. The exchange also contains an unclear request phrase, “P335 to P460,” with no resolved range or unit.

Sagarbarria said a ₱190 million AMLC proposal was not considered in the NEP and sought restoration of ₱190.559 million; the NEP provided no capital outlay. Rep. Presley C. De Jesus pressed for stronger financial-investigation capacity and asked about the restoration. He later summarized it as “₱198 million plus the ₱144 million”; Sagarbarria assented, while De Jesus described the result as nearly ₱333 million. He also later described the budget change as ₱334 million to ₱144 million. These figures do not reconcile with the stated ₱335,246,000 proposal or ₱190.559 million restoration request. Sagarbarria said the NEP level was insufficient and sought House support to restore funds; no appropriation disposition is recorded.

National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA): FY 2027 proposal. The National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) sponsor, Rep. Bella Vanessa B. Suansing, vice chair of the House Committee on Appropriations,, sponsored the proposed FY 2027 budget and said the agency was ready to answer questions. This brief statement gives no NEP allocation, original agency-request total, prior-year comparison or augmentation, and no actual interpellation or substantive budget presentation followed in the NICA unit.

National Security Council (NSC): FY 2027 NEP budget: ₱1.136 billion for the National Security Council (NSC), with MOOE of ₱962.568 million, which the sponsor said made up most of the proposal. A separate original agency-request total was not stated. The sponsor later confirmed MOOE of ₱871 million in FY 2026 and ₱962 million in FY 2027, a 10.5 percent rise, and proposed capital outlay of ₱600,000. For subscriptions, the sponsor gave FY 2026 GAA of ₱172.8 million and FY 2027 NEP of ₱261.18 million, describing the increase as ₱79 million. Rep. Sergio C. Dagooc called it ₱261.1 million, a ₱261 million or 23 percent increase, and also referred to an unclear “22 million” comparison; these descriptions do not reconcile. The subscriptions support cybersecurity and related programs through annual bidding and a mix of domestic and foreign suppliers; no program or vendor list was supplied. Operating expenses were approximately ₱295 million in FY 2026 and ₱525 million in FY 2027 after an account reclassification, moving programs from general administration to support to operations.

Confidential expenses and procurement. Dagooc questioned the ₱250 million FY 2027 confidential-expense request, its targets and utilization, and asked whether use could be described without compromising national security. The sponsor identified, generally, the National Review of Foreign Investments on Military Cybersecurity, 360 Archipelagic Security Governance, protection of critical information infrastructure through cybersecurity, crisis management and counterintelligence. She said the agency would submit a list. Dagooc recommended a special provision to release funds in the first quarter for procurement; this was a recommendation, with no adoption recorded.

Staffing and objections. The sponsor attributed a 6 percent personal-services increase to a new Salary Standardization Law tranche. She said 212 plantilla positions were approved for 2026 (the same number as in 2025), 165 were filled, and 71 contract-of-service workers were approved. Dagooc objected that posts remained vacant while the NSC used contract and job-order workers, called the response on hiring unacceptable and raised labor-case costs; he said another member was considering deferring the budget over the vacancies. The sponsor said applications were under review but gave no hiring timeline. She attributed low 2025 utilization to procurement delays and rising material prices; the agency said continuing procurement could still use prior-year funds.

National Amnesty Commission (NAC): FY 2027 proposed NEP budget. The National Amnesty Commission (NAC) sponsor, Rep. Jose “Joboy” S. Aquino II, presented a FY 2027 NEP allocation of ₱266,700,000 and asked House members to support it. The unit gives no separate original agency-submission amount, component breakdown or increase/restoration proposal, and records no appropriation disposition.

Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU): FY 2027 proposed NEP budget: ₱9.3 billion for the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU). No original agency-request total was stated. Rep. Elijah Rumbaoa San Fernando described a ₱1.171 billion, or 14.4 percent, increase; the exchange does not establish this as a separate augmentation on top of ₱9.3 billion. San Fernando described a ₱6.090 billion Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) request within the proposed budget.

PAMANA allocation and components. Rep. Dadah Kiram Ismula referred to ₱6.90 billion for FY 2027 PAMANA projects; Rep. Jose “Joboy” S. Aquino II later stated a PAMANA target budget of ₱6,090,290,000. The source does not reconcile these figures. Rep. Renee Louise M. Co cited the proposed allocation as ₱6.09 billion, with ₱3.76 billion for roads, ₱807 million for educational assistance, ₱377 million for community infrastructure, ₱375 million for bridges and ₱258 million for social protection. For 25 Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) projects, Aquino’s amount was fragmented as “800,” then “868 million 440,000”; it is not combined into a total. He described ₱563 million for 23 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) normalization projects and ₱2.2 billion for normalization, including camps and the Camps Transformation Program; the answer gave no amount for seven Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) projects. He separately described about ₱1.4 billion for projects implemented directly by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) through a FY 2027 NEP special provision, separate from PAMANA.

PAMANA audit and implementation. San Fernando cited COA findings of ₱1.26 billion unliquidated in the second quarter of 2026, ₱3.93 billion unliquidated at 2025 year-end, and ₱9.936 billion in total unliquidated PAMANA transfers. Aquino answered with a 2017 transfer total spoken as “6 billion, 185 million, 513,” whose final unit is unclear. For July 2024, he gave a fragmented sequence, “3 billion, 698, 635, 631,” in describing amounts liquidated and refunded, without making clear whether it is one or two totals. He said corresponding liquidation reports had been sent to COA, that OPAPRU had reactivated citizen-led monitoring, and that the Secretary does not approve questionable projects; he invited members to visit and geotag projects.

Education assistance and other peace-process work. Aquino stated ₱52 million for program-management support, separately from unclear project-target figures rendered as “258 million students” for social protection and “832 million 290” for education assistance. He later identified ₱850 million as the current-year educational-assistance amount. He said assistance was not provided in 2023, 2024 or 2025; for 2026, he said OPAPRU had received no Department of Budget and Management (DBM) cash download, no funds had been released, and utilization was zero. He said the agency was working on MOAs with state universities. In a later exchange he said universities with MOAs provide ₱25,000 per semester. Co separately cited educational-assistance figures of ₱807 million, ₱807,500,000 and ₱807,000,000; the exchange does not reconcile them.

For FY 2027, Aquino said ₱66 million was allotted to the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Roadmap: ₱14 million for Track 1 to establish the proposed transitional-justice body and ₱51 million for Track 2 support. The components total ₱65 million; the source does not explain the difference. The work covered truth, history, justice, reparations and guarantees, including a land inventory in six MILF camps and work with Congress on the proposed bill. He separately said ₱100 million was required to fulfill the roadmap, without identifying it as a formal additional request. Aquino stated a FY 2027 Women, Peace and Security allocation of ₱12,195,000 for partner capacity-building, collaboration and resource mobilization, localization and mainstreaming, monitoring and evaluation, and unit administration. The H74 OPAPRU interpellation period was terminated; no appropriation disposition for the cited requests or increase is recorded.

Commission on Audit (COA): Cagas described the Commission on Audit (COA) as the country’s supreme auditing institution and guardian of the public treasury. He said its budget would support the Commission’s programs, activities and operations to promote accountability for public resources, transparency and improved government operations. He characterized the proposal as an investment in good governance, saying resources would support rigorous audits, an expanded state-auditor workforce and digital innovations. He argued that supporting COA would help guard against waste and corruption and preserve the integrity and independence of oversight institutions.

Rep. Iris Marie Demesa Montes: Rep. Iris Marie Demesa Montes asked whether COA audits all agencies and local governments each year and whether greater technical capacity could extend audit coverage to barangays. Cagas said that, apart from barangays, COA audits all municipalities, provinces and national agencies. He said barangay audits are currently cyclical, at about once every three years across roughly 42,000 barangays, and that sufficient technology could make them annual. The exchange identifies technology as a possible condition for more frequent barangay audits, without a specific implementation commitment.

Montes asked how COA develops auditors’ competence and integrity and whether specialized training carries a service obligation. Cagas said training begins when employees enter COA and continues through their careers. Specialized training has a contract requiring employees to return the government’s investment; regular training does not.

Montes then asked whether COA had funds and staffing to recruit engineers, information-technology specialists and other professionals able to assess complex audits, including infrastructure pricing. Cagas said COA wanted specialists but had limited plantilla positions, including for engineers. He agreed that the agency needed more expertise and confirmed that COA had requested additional plantilla items from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). No number of positions or decision on the request was stated.

Montes asked how many corruption-related audit findings led to cases or sanctions in 2025. Cagas described COA’s fraud audit arising from the flood-control scandal and said about 50 criminal cases from Bulacan alone had been submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman. The answer does not give a 2025-wide count of cases or sanctions.

Asked how COA measures whether audits reduce corruption, Cagas described the audit process: when auditors identify a concern, they prepare an audit observation memorandum (AOM) and the agency must respond. He outlined responses to the AOM, notices of disallowance and referral to the Ombudsman when a notice cannot be answered. The wording about which response triggers disallowance is unclear in the transcript. He gave no measure for quantifying a reduction in corruption, leaving Montes’s metrics question unanswered in this exchange.

On coordination with Congress and the Ombudsman, Cagas said COA provides annual reports to the House and its auditors serve as prosecution witnesses in cases reaching the Ombudsman.

Montes said that annual audit reports had previously been distributed to House offices but that she had not recently found COA reports on the website before budget hearings. She asked when COA submits the reports and how the public and civil society can access them. Cagas said the annual audit report reaches Congress within a month after June 30, with a hard copy delivered to the Office of the Speaker of the House.

On public access, Cagas gave the FY 2025 annual audit report as an example, saying it would be available on the COA website on October 31, 2026, roughly ten months after the previous year. Montes closed by arguing that every peso lost to corruption deprives a Filipino of needed services and urging that COA have sufficient authority, staff and integrity to safeguard public funds.

Rep. Tobias "Toby" M. Tiangco: Representative Tobias “Toby” M. Tiangco asked when COA completes and publishes annual audit reports. Rep. John Tracy F. Cagas, sponsor of the Commission on Audit (COA) budget, said agency audits are completed by June 30; after that, reports are transmitted to recipient offices, including the House and its Speaker, with publication due October 31 under the General Appropriations Act. Tiangco asked whether the House audit report had been published. Cagas said it had not, though COA had an advance copy.

Tiangco asked whether legislators’ district expenses could be liquidated by certification. Cagas said COA Circular 89-300 (1989) permits that method. On whether all 316 members received equal maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), Cagas said allocation was for House leadership or the Speaker to decide, not COA. He later said allocations varied with committee chairmanship and membership, district activities, and workload; Tiangco concluded they were not equal.

Tiangco asked whether House staff or legislators’ staff could also use liquidation by certification. Cagas said people who were not members of Congress or representatives were not eligible. Cagas agreed that an employee’s failure to submit receipts for liquidation would be an audit finding.

During questions about the House’s 2024 audit, Cagas first cited ₱15.472 million (also stated as ₱15,472,000) in spending for supplies, then distinguished total supplies of ₱84,788,000 for 2024. Tiangco said his copy showed ₱84,790,000; Cagas confirmed ₱84,788,000 as the amount in the record. Tiangco identified ₱939,870,000 as the 2024 supplies and materials budget in the audit report. Cagas later described the recorded amount as approximately ₱939 million.

For utilities, Tiangco cited a 2024 budget of about ₱854 million and spending of about ₱113 million; Cagas confirmed both figures. Tiangco said the unspent balances were ₱855,080,000 for supplies and ₱741 million for utilities, then asked where they had gone.

Tiangco also stated that the House’s 2024 budget for extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses was ₱1.7 billion and sought confirmation. The sponsor requested a suspension; after the suspension he declined to answer additional questions about House expenses. No confirmation of that amount was given in this exchange.

After the spending comparisons, Tiangco asked where the unspent House balances had gone. Cagas said COA audits expenditures and did not know where the House had moved the balances. Tiangco argued that COA should know where funds were realigned before they were spent. Cagas replied that the exchange concerned COA’s own proposed budget, and said it was unfair to make COA answer for House budget decisions or speculation about where the money went. Tiangco said he was not questioning COA, supported its budget, and based his questions on the annual audit report.

After a suspension, Cagas declined to answer further questions about House expenses and asked Tiangco to submit them in writing for the proper authorities or office. Tiangco said the questions concerned COA’s audit mandate and ended his questioning. Deputy Speaker Janette L. Garin then said Cagas was willing to respond and requested that COA officials submit the documents Tiangco sought. The exchange ended without an answer about where the balances were transferred.

Rep. Sarah Jane I. Elago: Gender and development (GAD) spending. Rep. Sarah Jane I. Elago of Gabriela Women’s Partylist asked Rep. John Tracy F. Cagas, the Commission on Audit (COA) sponsor, about audits of government entities’ GAD spending. She cited Section 36A of the Magna Carta of Women (Republic Act No. 9710), which she said requires entities to allocate at least 5% of total appropriations to GAD programs, activities and projects. Cagas said COA had issued audit observation memoranda in prior years when GAD spending did not follow Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) guidelines. Elago asked whether findings involved diversion, inflated costs or over-tagging. She cited the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) program for displaced workers, TUPAD, as an example of a large program tagged as integrating GAD, and questioned whether its delivery demonstrated women’s participation and other GAD objectives. Cagas said the central audit concern was compliance with PCW guidelines.

Elago asked how COA was strengthening enforcement, noting that a proposal before the House Committee on Women and Gender Equality would raise the minimum GAD spending share, while she questioned whether the current 5% was being used for its intended purpose. Cagas said COA monitors national agencies, local government units, government-owned or controlled corporations and barangays; annual audit reports include observations on whether GAD funds were planned and used under PCW guidance. Elago said the relevant advisory had come out only in 2025 and called for training implementers on integrating GAD into agencies’ main programs. She said she would seek COA’s full report and a meeting with the PCW and relevant agencies to address concerns that GAD funds were treated as supplemental money or assigned to programs unrelated to GAD.

Confidential and intelligence funds (CIF). Asked how many agencies would have CIFs in the proposed FY 2027 budget, Cagas said COA did not yet have the data. Elago shifted the request to 2025, when she expected utilization reporting to be complete. In giving the counts, Cagas first said 38 national agencies had intelligence funds, then corrected the figure to 25. He separately said 19 agencies had confidential funds and three agencies had both. Elago requested the agency list and asked what review COA was doing to ensure proper use. She cited public scrutiny since 2024 and argued that civilian agencies without law-enforcement, investigative or national-security functions should not receive CIFs, given limited transparency and public oversight. Cagas referred to a COA study or proposal involving other agencies; the transcript clearly names the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), while other partner names in that passage are unclear.

Elago asked when revised CIF guidelines would be released and what they would change. Cagas said work was under way to revise the 2015 memorandum circular, including rules on aliases or code names, evidence supporting rewards, allowed expenses, auditors’ security clearances and generic acknowledgment receipts. He said COA could not yet give a completion date. He described the revision as dependent on coordination with other agencies, especially the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), but estimated that new guidelines might come in the first half of the following year, through June. He also said COA recommended that the Department of the Interior and Local Government develop its own guidance for local government CIFs despite an existing joint circular.

Elago pressed for an explicit prohibition on civilian agencies’ use of confidential and intelligence funds. Cagas replied that Congress sets through the General Appropriations Act conditions identifying which entities receive those funds. Asked for COA’s recommendation, he returned to clearer rules for receipts, aliases, rewards and allowable expenses, and described the DILG guidance proposal. Elago reiterated that civilian entities could perform their mandates with transparency and accountability without CIFs; she called for removing the permission in the proposed FY 2027 GAA’s Section 92. Her call was not resolved by a motion or disposition in this exchange.

Rep. Antonio L. Tinio: Rep. Antonio L. Tinio of ACT Teachers Party-list asked about Commissioner Mario Gonzales Lipana, whose term Rep. John Tracy F. Cagas, the COA sponsor, confirmed would end on February 2, 2027. Tinio said Lipana had been controversial during the flood-control corruption controversy and cited records that he said showed the commissioner’s wife, Marie Lou Lipana, was a contractor. He identified Olympus Mining and Builders Group Philippines Corporation, formerly Olympus Builders and Mining Corporation, and said records showed it had received 27 public-infrastructure projects from 2022 through 2025 worth ₱2.204 billion. Tinio described the portfolio as including ₱1.01 billion for flood-control and roads and ₱1.13 billion for roads, and gave an average contract cost of ₱81 million. The stated categories do not reconcile to that total in the transcript.

Tinio said the projects were concentrated in Bulacan, Region III and Metro Manila, including work under the Bulacan First, Second and Third District Engineering Offices and other offices. He associated the Bulacan First District Engineering Office with Henry Alcantara, whom he said was involved in ghost projects. Tinio said COA had quickly audited Bulacan flood-control projects the prior year, and that reports he obtained confirmed ghost projects and serious issues flagged by COA. He raised a possible conflict of interest because the commissioner’s spouse was a contractor on flood-control projects, and said there had long been calls for Lipana to resign to protect the Commission’s credibility. He asked for the commissioner’s current status.

Cagas said Commissioner Lipana was on sick leave because of cancer. He said COA had investigated the construction firm associated with Lipana’s wife and had issued a notice of disallowance (ND). Tinio asked whether the ND was final; Cagas said it was on appeal before Cluster 7, whose director handled public-works, transportation and energy matters. He confirmed it remained at the director level, not before the Commission en banc.

Tinio asked how long Lipana had been taking sick leave. Cagas described terminal, final-stage cancer and recurring monthly absences: Lipana applied for three days of leave each month for examinations and treatment, then returned to duty. He offered to provide exact cumulative leave data from 2025 to the present, and Tinio requested it in writing. Cagas said commissioners follow the same sick-leave guidelines as other government employees; Tinio confirmed that the same limits apply, and Cagas agreed. Cagas said Lipana continued to perform his duties despite taking leave periodically. He added that the two remaining commissioners could continue the Commission’s work in his absence. Asked whether the two could issue en banc decisions, Cagas said they could act by majority and reported no disagreements between them so far.

Tinio then asked whether Lipana would participate if the wife-related ND reached the en banc. Cagas said Lipana would inhibit himself. Tinio closed by saying the exchange had clarified that Lipana remained in office, took periodic sick leave, and would recuse himself if a conflict arose; he reiterated concern about public confidence in COA. The ND itself remained under Cluster 7 review in this unit, with no final disposition reported.

Commission on Elections (COMELEC): Representative Keith Micah “Atty. Mike” D.L. Tan described the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) as a constitutional commission responsible for safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process and ensuring orderly, credible, and efficient elections. He said the Commission should use its resources efficiently and transparently, in line with its constitutional mandate and applicable laws.

Rep. Edgar R. Erice: Erice congratulated COMELEC on what he described as an orderly Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) election and asked about the voting machines’ accuracy and supplier. Tan said the random manual audit was still underway but that, based on information then available, variance was 0%; he agreed with Erice’s characterization that the count was accurate. Tan said 7,000 machines were used. In response to Erice’s question about the lease contract, Tan put the cost at ₱1.2 billion. He said the package covered ballot boxes, the consolidation and counting system, election peripherals including pens, the election management system and ballot printing; election transmission was excluded.

Asked for the total BARMM election spending including those services, Tan estimated it at about ₱3 billion. The figures describe the prior BARMM lease and overall election expenditure, which Erice used as a reference point for the 2028 procurement discussion.

Erice questioned the plan to lease brand-new machines for 2028 before an independent technical and financial comparison. He said he was not asking that the contract automatically go to Miro Systems or advocating for any supplier; he wanted the draft terms of reference (TOR) to keep qualified, secure and upgraded equipment eligible if it could meet the requirements. Tan said the draft TOR was still being finalized, that the Commission’s current recommendation was to lease new machines, and that purchase would require a larger budget. He said the Commission could still study reuse and welcomed suggestions.

Erice said 110,620 machines had been used in the 2025 national and local elections and cited approximately 99.997% accuracy, which Tan confirmed. Using the BARMM lease as a reference, Erice estimated that reusing the existing equipment for the 2028 election could cost about ₱15 billion, compared with about ₱23 billion for a brand-new fleet, a difference he put at ₱8 billion. He later estimated potential savings of ₱8–₱10 billion if reuse or non-new machines were not barred from bidding. Tan said the machines could be used for three elections, citing Department of Science and Technology certification and verification by an international certification entity. He said the scanner might need replacement; Tan also cited a recommendation to add fans because some machines had overheated.

Erice asked whether the Commission had an independent engineering study, whether old machines were technically obsolete, what their remaining useful life was, and whether refurbishment, upgrades or partial replacement could meet the 2028 requirements. Tan pointed to the cited certifications, but said no study of reuse had yet been completed and the final decision was still pending. Erice requested a cost comparison of continued use with maintenance or upgrades, replacement of defective units, and a fully new system. Tan said the refurbishment cost had not yet been factored in because the TOR was not final.

Erice questioned the role of the COMELEC Advisory Council (CAC), citing its technology-advice responsibilities under Republic Act No. 9369. Tan said the CAC had made technical recommendations but had neither specifically required brand-new machines nor recommended against reuse. He said COMELEC was not part of the CAC, rejected the suggestion of blanket authority, and said the Commission considered the council’s recommendations. Erice offered to help seek its opinion on reuse.

On supplier selection, Erice recalled challenging in the Supreme Court the decision not to use government-purchased Smartmatic machines in 2025, which he said had been called obsolete. He asked whether Miro equipment used once would also be treated as obsolete. Tan said it was not obsolete and explained that the 2025 TOR had specified a lease. Erice said that a brand-new requirement could exclude usable machines, and warned against a TOR tailored to a single bidder. He referred to his allegation that Miro had used another company to satisfy contracting-capacity requirements and referred to people associated with that company as being detained. He explicitly framed his intervention as a caution rather than an accusation about the upcoming bid. Tan said the Commission was not “hell-bent” on new equipment, would study reuse and would take Erice’s technical suggestions into account.

Erice invoked Republic Act No. 12009, the New Government Procurement Act, and argued that the proposal should demonstrate value for money through market scoping and life-cycle analysis. Tan said COMELEC had conducted market scoping and that it indicated ₱25.6 billion for a lease contract alone; he estimated about ₱180,000 per machine. Erice asked for comparisons of reuse, refurbishment, upgrading, additional leased equipment and a fully new system, including expected useful life and residual value. Tan said no reuse study had been done and the refurbishment cost was not yet included. He said the Commission was waiting for the BARMM count to finish so its operational data could be incorporated.

Erice asked COMELEC to provide the full performance record: machines deployed, failures, repairs and replacements, transmission problems, waiting time for replacements, election protests tied to counting errors, defects that ordinary repairs could not fix, and evidence that the existing machines were safe, secure and still useful. Erice also sought answers on longer ballots, presidential-election software configuration, memory, modem, battery and processor upgrades, and the option of leasing only additional machines. Tan agreed to submit the requested responses and include BARMM reports in consolidated data. On Erice’s final request for an independent, itemized and auditable comparison before the procurement decision, Tan said the Commission would submit the questions and was awaiting the BARMM results to incorporate into its study. This unit contains no final machine-selection decision or completed comparison.

Rep. Sarah Jane I. Elago: Voter registration and overseas voting. Rep. Sarah Jane I. Elago of Gabriela Women’s Partylist referred to the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) goal, presented at its FY 2027 budget briefing, of increasing registered voters from 1.2 million to 2 million before the 2028 national elections. In September 2026, she asked how many voters had been added and how many were overseas. Rep. Keith Micah “Atty. Mike” D.L. Tan, the recognized sponsor, reported about 1,014,701 registered overseas voters as of August 12, 2026, and hoped the count would grow by 500,000 before the next national and local election. He did not give an overall net increase in registered voters.

Elago raised the challenge of voter awareness among Filipinos working or living overseas and asked whether registration could also enroll voters in the new online voting system. Tan said COMELEC was studying that suggestion and described town hall meetings with Filipino community leaders, expanded education on the full online voting process, planned mock voting and system demonstrations, easier enrollment, and help desks and feedback channels through COMELEC, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and community partners. Elago welcomed coordination that would let overseas Filipino workers register before departure and combine registration with enrollment.

Elago said internet voting was planned at 104 posts for the 2028 national elections and asked whether voting would be fully online rather than by post or in person. Tan confirmed COMELEC planned fully online voting for 2028. Elago raised the need for more public information and the burden of a separate enrollment step. Tan said the voting and counting system was still undergoing its terms-of-reference process and that COMELEC was refining it for usability, vote security and voter confidence. Elago said she was awaiting COMELEC’s assessment of the online system first used in 2025 and noted that bills under House deliberation would preserve options for voting by post or in person alongside online voting.

Bangsamoro election reports and safeguards. Elago said her questions about the September 14, 2026 Bangsamoro parliamentary election drew on reports from civil-society organizations accredited by COMELEC as local observers. She asked what action followed reports that some voters in Maluso, Basilan, received ballots already marked or pre-shaded. Tan said COMELEC itself discovered the pre-shading and recalled the affected ballots. He said the Commission was tracing possible tampering through the chain of custody and had taken a further step the previous day concerning those potentially responsible, though the type of action is unclear in the transcript. Asked how many reports were under verification, Tan said approximately 10 reports were being verified. Elago asked that an initial report be submitted to the House Committee on Appropriations and sought transparent, timely updates for complainants. Tan said the Commission was open to updates and asked that incidents be reported promptly so it could act.

Elago also asked why military and uniformed personnel were deployed in some areas and how COMELEC would ensure their presence did not intimidate voters or restrict free voting. Tan said COMELEC focused on “red category” areas with a history of election violence. He cited an 84% turnout in the Bangsamoro as evidence of peaceful voting and said the data showed police had helped voters cast ballots freely. Elago said she would review the Commission’s initial report to assess whether voting had been free and the election fair and clean.

Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA): Sagarbarria described ARTA’s role in reducing regulatory burdens, streamlining government processes, and encouraging agencies to use more efficient, digitalized systems. She said the proposed initiatives included enhancements to digital platforms, the Philippine-based regulation information system, electronic complaints management, and other digital programs intended to make government transactions more accessible, transparent, and efficient. She linked reducing red tape with better government delivery, public trust, and service to the people.

She identified Republic Act No. 11032 as the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018. She sought the House’s support for ARTA’s FY2027 proposed budget and said she was ready to answer questions.

Rep. Iris Marie Demesa Montes: Montes asked how many red-tape complaints ARTA received in 2025 and how many it resolved within the required period. Sagarbarria answered with figures “as of 2026”: 12,335 cases received and 11,208 resolved within the turnaround time, or 90.86%. The answer therefore supplies a 2026 tally rather than a separately identified 2025 total.

Asked which offices drew the most complaints, Sagarbarria gave separate top-ten lists. Among government-owned and controlled corporations, she named the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund), Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), Land Bank of the Philippines, Philippine Postal Corporation, National Transmission Corporation, National Food Authority, Intellectual Property Office and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority; she identified Pag-IBIG as the highest. For national government agencies, she named the Land Transportation Office, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Food and Drug Administration, Philippine Statistics Authority, National Telecommunications Commission, Department of Education, Land Registration Authority, Register of Deeds, Professional Regulation Commission and Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development. For local governments, she listed Quezon City, Taguig, Caloocan, Pasig, Parañaque, Malolos, Manila, San Jose del Monte, Makati, Muntinlupa and a further city whose name is unclear in the transcript.

Montes asked whether agencies had public assistance and complaint desks and whether they were properly staffed. Sagarbarria said agencies, rather than ARTA, must provide the personnel. After Montes described a help desk in a top-complaint agency with no staff, Sagarbarria acknowledged her frustration, said ARTA conducts compliance inspections, apologized for what had happened and said inspections would be conducted in the future to verify that desks are actually staffed.

On agency Committees on Anti-Red Tape (CARTs), Sagarbarria reported 70% compliance and said noncompliant agencies would receive notices to explain. She said 98% complied with the Citizens’ Charter requirement; in response to Montes’s question about whether agencies followed the charters in practice, she said ARTA requires annual compliance updates and also conducts inspections.

Montes asked whether ARTA investigations led to cases or accountability. Sagarbarria reported 600 investigations and 373 cases filed, but did not give case dispositions or penalties. Asked how many agencies received ARTA recommendations and how many acted on them, she described ongoing whole-of-government reengineering of systems and procedures without providing the requested counts.

As an example of process simplification, Sagarbarria said telecommunications permits were reduced from 13 to 8 and documentary requirements from 86 to 35. Processing time fell from 241 days to 16 days. She said approved telecommunications permit applications rose from 6,117 to 10,465 as of June 2026, while fixed-internet download speed increased from 93.96 Mbps to 102.79 Mbps in December 2025.

Asked how ARTA measures whether red tape is declining and clients are more satisfied, Sagarbarria described ARTA’s Report Card Survey. She said it uses feedback from actual clients to assess compliance with the Citizens’ Charter and service-delivery requirements, and uses random sampling and validation of agency reports to identify improvements. She also cited an ARTA report card and a client-satisfaction measurement, but did not provide a trend in complaints or dissatisfaction that directly answered Montes’s question about whether cases or dissatisfied clients had declined.

Montes asked Sagarbarria to rate ARTA’s performance since its 2018 establishment under Republic Act No. 11032. Sagarbarria rated the agency 9 out of 10. Montes called that a self-rating, said the work remained in progress, expressed full support for ARTA’s budget, and challenged the Authority to continue improving government transactions.

Rep. Presley C. De Jesus: De Jesus cited ARTA’s accomplishment report: of 1,634 local government units (LGUs), 127 (7.77 percent) were fully compliant with the electronic business one-stop shop (eBOSS); 722 (44 percent) were partly compliant; 544 (33 percent) had no eBOSS; and 243 (14 percent) had made no submission. He said more than 92 percent were not fully compliant and asked what target ARTA expected by the stated end date of 2037. Sagarbarria said ARTA had been helping LGUs establish eBOSS since 2019, but rollout also depended on internet infrastructure, staff capacity, equipment and software, IT hiring, and integration with separately developed systems such as the Bureau of Fire Protection’s EFIS. She said LGUs regularly updated monitoring reports and stated an FY2027 goal of 1,300 fully compliant eBOSS LGUs in the regions.

De Jesus asked which sectoral streamlining initiatives and one-stop shops were already operating and what remained for FY2027. Sagarbarria said the sectors were at different stages: telecommunications was most mature, while sector-specific one-stop shops for housing, infrastructure flagship projects, responsible mining, shipbuilding and ship repair were in rollout or development. Under Executive Order No. 32, required telecommunications permits had fallen from 13 to 8, documentation from 86 to 35, and reported turnaround time from 241 days to 16 days; approved permits rose from 6,117 in 2022 to 10,465 by June 2026.

For housing, a regulatory framework was institutionalized through a joint memorandum circular finalized by 15 national agencies in June 2026. Its next phase includes an Electronic Housing One-Stop Processing Center, data sharing, and a One Map System. ARTA was also implementing Executive Order No. 59 to streamline permits for infrastructure flagship projects and working with the Executive Secretary, the Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DEPDev), ICT authorities and the Department of Energy (DOE) on a framework and technical architecture for an infrastructure flagship-project one-stop shop, with a FY2027 pilot planned for physical-connectivity projects.

For responsible mining, ARTA was working with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and regulatory offices to streamline exploration-stage processes and develop an electronic mining one-stop shop (EMOS). Asian Development Bank technical assistance from September 2026 to August 2027 was to help harmonize the remaining stages of the mining regulatory lifecycle. For shipbuilding and repair, ARTA and the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) were finalizing a joint circular targeted for October 2026, covering streamlined and digitalized licensing, an electronic one-stop shop transitioning to MARINA BEST, investor information, training, and joint monitoring. Sagarbarria described FY2027 work as mainly operationalizing these reforms and said the additional funding discussed earlier was intended to sustain them.

Rep. Sergio C. Dagooc: Permit data. Rep. Sergio C. Dagooc asked Rep. Ma. Isabel L. Sagarbarria, the sponsor for the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), whether the agency had data on power-plant applicants whose permitting it helped expedite. Sagarbarria said ARTA had no such data. Dagooc then asked whether generating companies had approached ARTA for help accelerating permits. In response, Sagarbarria cited a joint memorandum circular on energy infrastructure projects and reported that permits issued increased by 71.7%, from 1,429 in 2025 to 2,454 in 2026. These were aggregate permit-issuance figures; she did not provide a count of generating companies that sought ARTA’s help.

Permitting and power supply. Dagooc pointed to yellow and red alerts in the Visayas and Mindanao and said building a power plant takes 5 to 7 years, with three years for actual construction and three years for permitting. He said more than 160 permits are needed before a plant can be built. He asked ARTA to set up a unit to coordinate directly with the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), identify service-contract holders and their technologies, proactively contact developers about permitting problems, and help resolve them. Dagooc argued that electricity is needed for investment and new businesses, and that grid alerts and brownouts drive electricity prices upward; faster permitting could bring more plants and supply and lower prices, including household bills in Metro Manila. Asked whether ARTA could commit, Sagarbarria answered, “Yes, Mr. Speaker.” The exchange records a commitment to the requested assistance, not a formal establishment or funding of the proposed unit.

Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC): Sagarbarria described AMLC as a hybrid financial intelligence unit whose responsibilities extend beyond its core mandate. She said it monitors covered persons’ compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001 and its implementing rules, investigates money laundering and terrorism financing, and seeks the freezing and forfeiture of crime proceeds.

She said modern technology would strengthen AMLC’s ability to detect, investigate and prosecute financial crimes, safeguard the integrity of the financial system, and support sustainable economic growth.

Rep. Renee Louise M. Co: Nonprofit-organization data and safeguards. Rep. Renee Louise M. Co began by citing the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) 2021 Nonprofit Organization (NPO) Terrorist Financing Sector Risk Assessment. She identified foundations, religious and education organizations, service NPOs—including parent-teacher, livelihood, and neighborhood associations—and expressive NPOs such as political, environmental, alumni, cultural, and economic groups. Co asked for anonymized, aggregated statistics rather than individual suspicious transaction reports (STRs), account numbers, or other protected customer information, including the number of organizations in those categories. Rep. Ma. Isabel L. Sagarbarria, the AMLC sponsor, said non-governmental organization (NGO) accreditation falls under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), not AMLC; AMLC had no data at that time while its studies were ongoing, and would submit current information and prior records reaching back to 2021 or 2020. Sagarbarria confirmed AMLC used the same NPO definitions and classifications as the SEC and answered yes when asked whether AMLC systematically assessed the effects of its measures on legitimate civil-society activities. She said counterterrorism-financing laws target terrorists and their financiers, legitimate humanitarian NGOs should not be unduly concerned, and AMLC acts on evidence after thorough investigation and evaluation.

Leyte Center for Development case. Co described the case of Leyte Center for Development (LCD), saying AMLC froze its accounts and assets in 2024, including personal accounts and assets of staff and Executive Director Hasmin Jerusalem and accounts of LCD suppliers. She said Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 28 ordered the accounts and assets unfrozen on February 20, 2026; AMLC filed a motion for reconsideration on March 6, 2026, which the court denied on March 18, 2026, reiterating its unfreeze order. Co said the banks and AMLC had not complied and asked about the rules for freezing and unfreezing accounts. Sagarbarria declined to discuss whether AMLC was investigating a particular civil-society organization (CSO) or NGO, citing confidentiality, and said AMLC refrains from commenting on cases pending in court under the sub judice rule. Co challenged that explanation, citing the denial of the motion and asking why the order remained unimplemented. Sagarbarria said other agencies were exploring the matter, AMLC was exploring judicial evidence, and that the case was on appeal; she later confirmed an appeal had been filed but said AMLC was still checking when. She maintained she could not discuss the ongoing case further, then agreed to submit a report on its status, including the date and other pertinent information.

Risk assessment and public reporting. Co asked how AMLC measures consequences for legitimate NPO activity and ensures its measures are risk-based and proportionate. Sagarbarria explained that covered persons may report suspicious transactions involving organizations suspected of terrorism or designated as such; AMLC may investigate and, when warranted, pursue legal remedies including freeze orders and civil forfeiture. She said AMLC conducts risk assessments based on facts and makes policies from them. At Co’s request, Sagarbarria agreed to provide the standards or documents AMLC uses to assess proportionality.

Co asked for counts of NPO-linked STRs from 2021 through the latest available year and the money involved. Sagarbarria said AMLC had no data at that moment and would submit it; she agreed to include counts and amounts for money-laundering and terrorist-financing reports as well. Asked about public release, she said AMLC submits accomplishment reports and publishes the results annually, usually before the budget hearing, and agreed to publish findings as soon as available.

Co then identified inconsistent figures in AMLC materials: she read an executive-summary figure as 18 NPOs and a passage containing “112” followed by an additional “10” before the reference to terrorism/terrorist-financing-related STRs; she contrasted this with a page-36 statement of 112 NPOs for 2017–2020. She later characterized the difference as 18 NPOs in 112 charges or STRs versus 12 NPOs. Sagarbarria said AMLC would check and validate the data. Co requested the promised information plus updated annual NPO counts using consistent definitions and aggregation, sources of NPO funds, territorial areas and activities, annual funds used from 2019 through the latest available year, and donations, contributions, and grants for 2019 through the latest available year. She said these data would help assess whether AMLC was focusing on large money launderers rather than small people’s organizations affected by allegations or STRs. Sagarbarria agreed to provide the requested information by the end of the week, adding “probably”; Deputy Speaker Yevgeny Vincente B. Emano acknowledged the recommitment and hoped it would be delivered.

Rep. Sarah Jane I. Elago: Representative Sarah Jane I. Elago cited Section 9(c) of Republic Act No. 11930, the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Materials Act. She said payment service providers with direct knowledge of related financial activity must report to the Department of Justice within 24 hours and to the Anti-Money Laundering Council within five days, and asked how many related reports AMLC had received. Sponsor Ma. Isabel L. Sagarbarria said AMLC had not received reports under the OSAEC law, only suspicious transaction reports (STRs). Elago stated for the record that there had been none so far related to violations of the law.

Elago then asked whether AMLC had closed or frozen any accounts linked to OSAEC/CSAEM, referring both to the past year and to the period since the law passed in 2022, and asked about account closures. Sagarbarria responded that AMLC had accounted for four civil forfeiture petitions filed in 2025 and three of the 28 petitions filed in the first semester of 2026. These were petition counts rather than a count of accounts closed or frozen. She said the operating unit maintained a separate breakdown of OSAEC and CSAEM cases and could furnish it to the Committee on request. Elago requested a copy of the law’s implementation status and dates of flagged and investigated transactions. She said she wanted AMLC to respond swiftly and take immediate action on suspicious transactions linked to offenses against children as Congress worked to revise and strengthen the law. Presiding Deputy Speaker Yevgeny Vincente B. Emano noted commitments and hoped the Vice Chair would provide the member with the needed material.

Rep. Presley C. De Jesus: De Jesus noted AMLC’s January 2026 report that assets frozen in connection with alleged anomalous government projects had reached approximately 24.7 billion, and confirmed with Sagarbarria that freezing an asset is not the same as recovering it. Asked how much in corruption-related cases had reached final forfeiture, she said most assets remained frozen or preserved because the cases were filed recently; she did not give a corruption-case total already forfeited.

Sagarbarria reported that in 2025, 15 of 30 Court of Appeals freeze orders involved corruption, including 14 flood-control anomaly cases covering 20.26 billion. In the first half of 2026, 18 of 28 civil-forfeiture petitions were corruption cases, covering 15.76 billion in preserved assets—57% of all assets preserved during that period. As of June 30, 2026, she cited five active corruption-related freeze orders covering another 1.01 billion; those cases remained pending in regional trial courts, with forfeiture judgments to follow trial. Flood-control cases alone accounted for 22 petitions covering about 16 billion in preserved assets as of September 16, 2026.

Across AMLC’s cases since 2006, she said courts had issued 106 forfeiture cases, with forfeiture orders covering 2.17 billion. Of that amount, 774 million had been returned to victims, 166 million turned over to the national government, and 119 million transferred to the Office of the Ombudsman; the balance remained at different stages of execution. The sponsor did not state a currency for these asset values in this answer.

De Jesus distinguished AMLC’s reactive work—tracing accounts after the Philippine National Police (PNP), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) or another body identifies a suspect—from proactive analysis of reports received from banks and other covered persons. Sagarbarria agreed that independently identifying suspicious activity was a measure of effectiveness and said it happens regularly and increasingly. She said that in the first half of 2026, 751 of 1,165 financial-intelligence products were generated on AMLC’s own initiative, including 300 spontaneous disclosures to law-enforcement or foreign counterparts without a prior request.

She identified capacity as the limiting factor. Suspicious-transaction reports rose from 10.9 million in 2023 to 62.9 million in 2025. In the flood-control investigation, AMLC analyzed 5,148 suspicious-transaction reports and 492,346 covered-transaction reports to produce 52 financial-intelligence products concerning 393 persons of interest. Sagarbarria said scaling this analysis was what the FY 2027 budget was for.

De Jesus asked whether AMLC could freeze assets held in offshore banks and whether it had agreements with other jurisdictions. Sagarbarria said AMLC generally lacks jurisdiction over offshore banks but coordinates with them. Asked whether it could coordinate when a person banked in another country, she said AMLC coordinates internationally. When De Jesus asked if that takes time, she did not give a timeframe.

National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA): Vice Chair Bella Vanessa B. Suansing took up the sponsor role for NICA and told colleagues the agency was ready to answer questions.

Rep. Renee Louise M. Co: Journal publication spending and review. Co asked how much the NSC had spent on the Philippine Journal on National Security and what it planned for later editions or volumes. Suansing clarified that she was answering about printing and publication expenses; she identified the period as 2020, then corrected the amount’s unit and repeated it as 2.1 million. Co confirmed that this covered all publications, not the journal alone, and Suansing agreed. Co requested a breakdown and asked if it could be provided that week; Suansing said the agency would comply. The answer does not clarify the stated year against the surrounding FY 2027 question or identify a journal-only cost.

Co questioned whether spending on the journal was well spent. She noted its stated aim of advancing scholarly inquiry and policy discourse, but said it lacked a peer-review policy and reviewer list, its editorial board consisted entirely of NSC officials by rank rather than independent academic experts, and its editor-in-chief authored the editor’s note and another article, which Co characterized as a conflict of interest. Suansing described it as a compilation of editorials from different sectors produced through the strategic communications cluster of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). She agreed that if it was to be considered scholarly inquiry it should be peer-reviewed. She described desktop review of peer-reviewed journals, periodicals, articles, and studies, plus interviews with subject-matter experts. Co replied that reviewing peer-reviewed sources is not itself peer review and said the publication had no reviewer list.

Journal claims and editorial consultation. Co challenged an article’s use of the wired-brain thesis for terrorism, saying the cited source warned against overinterpreting its findings. Suansing confirmed Dr. Teodoro Bautista had been a consultant on the project; Co noted that he was also editor-in-chief and an author. Suansing committed to speak with the editorial team about the thesis and the journal’s interpretation. Co asked to receive a post-consultation report. Co also said the publication contained conflicting claims: one article said terrorists showed no distinguishable psychopathology and described normality as a common characteristic, while Bautista’s article asserted neurological predisposition. Suansing responded that the compilation contains case studies and lived experiences from different areas alongside excerpts from peer-reviewed research and that contradictions can arise in such a compilation. Co argued the editor’s note still favored the more scientifically contested claim.

Authorship and future publications. Co raised a concern about Marlon Villarin, whom she identified as a University of Santo Tomas professor. She said he had filed a 50-page complaint against student activists and cited allegations of red-tagging, defamatory or misogynistic statements, and harassment; she argued this created a conflict of interest in an article connecting student civic and political activity with radicalization. Suansing said the agency would consult the NTF-ELCAC strategic communications cluster, which she described as responsible for reviewing and approving contributing authors, and would inform Co of the result. Asked whether further journals were planned and what process or topics they would have, Suansing said there were no publications in line as of then.

Policy framing and human security. Co criticized the journal’s treatment of poverty, land dispossession, injustice, marginalization, and historical trauma as conditions exploited by groomers rather than independently valid grievances. She asked why its recommendations did not include land reform, economic redistribution, or negotiated political settlement. Suansing said the NSC was shifting from a conventional national-security perspective toward human security, including economic security and dignity, food security, energy, water, and basic needs, and said these should appear in subsequent NSC reports.

Co replied that the journal’s DECAL recommendations focused on detecting alleged terror groomers online and offline; exposing them through a national registry and referrals to institutions such as schools; allowing law enforcement to patrol online platforms and use digital forensics, which she said violated privacy; arresting and prosecuting under the Anti-Terrorism Law, which she said remained subject to critiques as unconstitutional, vague, and overbroad; and legislating further regulatory measures. She argued that these recommendations did not advance the social and economic remedies the sponsor had described. Co then asked whether college-aged students, farmers, workers, unionists, teachers, Indigenous Filipinos, and practicing Muslims could make their own choices. Suansing began a response with “However,” but Co continued, describing these groups as among those the journal called vulnerable and again requesting promised information. Co remained critical of the journal’s academic rigor and its treatment of political engagement as a pathway to terror grooming before yielding her time.

Rep. Antonio L. Tinio: Representative Antonio L. Tinio said his questions concerned national security policy. After receiving a hard copy of the National Security Policy 2023–2028 and its accompanying National Security Strategy, he requested an electronic copy and focused on the strategic environment. He cited the policy’s treatment of the West Philippine Sea as a primary national interest and its warning that cross-strait tensions could become a regional flashpoint, with consequences for Philippine economic stability, refugees and overseas populations. Tinio asked what the strategy meant in saying a Taiwan Strait conflict would inevitably affect the Philippines, and whether the National Security Council (NSC) assessed that the country itself could become a belligerent. Sponsor Vice Chair Bella Vanessa B. Suansing said Taiwan’s proximity—stated as 100 kilometers from Philippine territory—led the NSC to assess spillover risks, including evacuation of overseas Filipino workers and other nationals and humanitarian efforts in the Philippines. Asked whether the assessment contemplated the Philippines joining armed conflict, she said, “Not so much.”

Tinio then cited President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s public statements that the Philippines would not allow other countries to use its bases in a China–Taiwan war, had no desire to be a belligerent, and was concerned with defending its territory and maintaining regional peace. Asked whether that aligned with the NSC’s analysis, Suansing said the agency agreed with him.

Tinio asked how the continued deployment and testing of the U.S. Typhon missile system squared with the President’s statements about preventing Philippine territory from being used to launch attacks. He said the system remained deployed in the Philippines, described it as capable of launching Tomahawk missiles, gave its range as about 1,600 kilometers from Northern Luzon, and cited a recent test from Tacloban Airport toward a target in Fort Magsaysay more than 600 kilometers away. He urged withdrawal of the system, arguing that its presence contradicted the public assurances. Suansing said the exercises were an exercise of Philippine sovereignty and an assessment of Philippine defense capabilities; she characterized them as measuring the country’s ability to defend its territory, not as an offensive exercise.

Tinio asked about the National Action Plan for Unity, Peace, and Development (NAP-UPD), including its proposal for a whole-of-nation approach and greater local government and Philippine National Police (PNP) responsibility for internal security through changes to Republic Act No. 8551. He asked the basis for that direction and whether the transfer of counterinsurgency responsibilities to the police and local governments, with the military focused on external defense, could be achieved before 2028. Suansing linked the direction to a comprehensive archipelagic defense concept and the military’s refocus on protecting the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones, which she said would leave a role for police and local governments. When Tinio asked about the timetable, she said it might be a matter for Department of National Defense (DND) budget deliberations, but described equipping uniformed forces for the defense concept as the goal. She said these goals were incorporated in the proposed FY 2027 budget. Asked whether related legislation was on the administration’s priority agenda or had a bill in Congress, she said they were looking into the particular legislative agenda.

Tinio challenged the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict’s (NTF-ELCAC) account that it had strengthened situational awareness, empowerment and protection against CPP-NPA-NDF recruitment. He recited examples in the account, including public-information campaigns, engagement with international bodies, youth and parent programs, and education initiatives, then argued that the same “situational awareness” activity had accompanied red-tagging and violations of civil and human rights.

He described reports from ACT Region 5, an accredited union representing more than 50,000 DepEd teachers in Region 5, that after a regional leadership seminar PNP personnel or people identifying themselves as intelligence officers contacted or visited participants, asked about attendees and sought names. Tinio read sample messages, including one asking a teacher to wait at a police station, and asked whether the NSC endorsed these inquiries as part of situational awareness. Suansing said the concern would be better directed to the situational awareness and knowledge management cluster of the NTF-ELCAC. Tinio said he was directing it to the NSC because it was a vice chair, condemned the reported harassment and intimidation of teachers in Camarines Sur, and said the record should reflect that congressional funding for the NSC and NTF-ELCAC enabled the activity.

Rep. Sergio C. Dagooc: Dagooc challenged the NSC’s performance indicator for essential elements of information: a 2026 target of 548 versus an accomplishment of 5,510, more than ten times the target. He asked whether the number was a typo and later pressed for realistic projections, saying the gap cast doubt on the target. Suansing said the result depended on incidents and the number of information elements that had to be collected. She acknowledged the gap was large but repeated that incident volume drove it; she did not say the figure was a typo. Dagooc said he was dropping six further questions, citing the difficulty of getting answers and the need to conclude. He thanked the sponsor and moved to terminate debate; the disposition of that motion is outside this unit.

National Amnesty Commission (NAC): Aquino described the NAC as responsible for implementing the Government’s Amnesty Program for qualified beneficiaries under existing laws and proclamations. He said its work supports reconciliation, reintegration and lasting peace through a lawful process for eligible individuals to obtain amnesty.

He said the Commission evaluates and processes applicants, coordinates with government agencies to carry out the program lawfully and efficiently, and needs resources to administer the program, issue amnesty grants and meet institutional operating requirements while using public funds accountably and prudently.

Rep. Presley C. De Jesus: Representative Presley C. De Jesus cited the National Amnesty Commission’s mandate under Executive Orders No. 125, as amended by No. 47, to receive, process and determine amnesty applications. He said the application period for four amnesty proclamations ran from March 2024 to March 2026 and that, by its close, the Commission reported 20 applicants granted amnesty out of approximately 16,000 applications, or 0.1232 percent. He asked how many of 16,230 applications had been fully evaluated and resolved, including approvals, denials or other dispositions, and how many remained pending.

Sponsor Jose “Joboy” S. Aquino II listed five processing constraints and NAC responses: incomplete applications, with logistical and financial difficulties in obtaining missing documents and problems coordinating with agencies, were being addressed by simplifying the process and reviewing which requirements could be dispensed with; agencies unfamiliar with the NAC or reluctant to share documents, sometimes citing the Data Privacy Act, were to be engaged and oriented on the Commission’s mandate and official authority to request records; difficulty assembling a quorum for case conferences arose because each case-conference body had five members and needed three, while members worked in other offices, so NAC cited better coordination, a more capable secretariat and timely honoraria .

Separate and independent reviews by ex-officio members added time outside NAC’s control, prompting continued coordination, streamlining, process checks, technical working group meetings and designated personnel to follow up with each member; and low staffing, following a civil-service postponement of hiring contract-of-service personnel amid a surge in applications, prompted NAC to seek an exemption from the Commission on Audit (COA), Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and Civil Service Commission (CSC), while streamlining, capacity building, process checks and digitalization continued. Aquino said the Commission remained committed to delivering its mandate.

De Jesus then said the record showed 16,230 pending applicants and 20 approvals over the past three years; he calculated an average of seven a year and said that pace would take over two millennia to clear the backlog. Aquino replied that there were 3,166 “results of the amnesty,” without specifying what that figure counted. When De Jesus asked whether the 20 figure was wrong, Aquino clarified that the 20 had been granted by the President, then mentioned the Office of the President and “25, 25” without identifying what the 25 referred to. He returned to the five factors as ways to speed processing. Asked whether more grants and faster processing could be expected in coming years, Aquino referred to an unclear next-day activity and said this would be especially so if the NAC budget were approved that night; the exchange did not establish a concrete processing timetable.

Peace-process mandate and implementation priorities: Mandate and implementation priorities. Aquino described OPAPRU as the government’s lead agency for coordinating and implementing the comprehensive peace process. He said it advances the government’s peace agenda by facilitating implementation of peace agreements, supporting normalization and reconciliation, and coordinating development interventions in conflict-affected and vulnerable communities. He said the agency helps sustain the gains of the peace process by translating agreements into concrete programs that improve affected communities’ lives and prospects.

Aquino argued that sustaining peace takes more than agreements alone: it requires consistent implementation, meaningful community engagement, and investment that addresses socioeconomic conditions underpinning lasting peace. He said the proposed budget should support effective implementation of peace and normalization programs, including development interventions in conflict-affected areas, while ensuring transparency, accountability, measurable results, and a people-centered, inclusive national budget. He submitted the proposed FY 2027 budget for the chamber’s consideration and said he was ready to answer questions.

Rep. Elijah Rumbaoa San Fernando: San Fernando questioned why the requested budget was rising while some performance targets stayed unchanged, citing 20 percent for normalization in the current and next year and 70 percent for final peace agreements. Aquino said a backlog in 2025 was partly related to the BARMM election and reported higher targets for 2026: 67 percent for the MILF process, 70 percent for MNLF, 84 percent for RPA, and 90 or 91 percent for CPLA. He gave an overall 71.4 percent achievement against OPAPRU’s peace-agreement commitments, with program figures of 67 percent for GPH–MILF, 43 percent for GPH–MNLF, 91 percent for GPH–CBA–CPLA, and 84.6 percent for GPH–RPM–PRPA–ABB.

On the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (NAPWPS), San Fernando contrasted 2025 targets of 600 beneficiaries and 20 localized implementations with reported outputs of 3,227 beneficiaries and 43 implementations. He first said the FY2027 targets were 650 and 20, then later restated the beneficiary target as 600 while asking which target OPAPRU was using. Aquino described the 2023–2033 plan’s localization through training, civil-society collaboration and integration into plans, budgets and leadership programs; noted data, policy-support and program-integration gaps; and said a dashboard developed with DICT was set to become public by the end of 2026, with localization work underway in 18 provinces. San Fernando asked that the targets be furnished to his office, and Aquino agreed.

San Fernando said the normalization target had remained at 20 percent across 2024–2027 after 16 percent in 2022, and asked what the percentage measured across the track’s security, socioeconomic development, confidence-building, transitional-justice and reconciliation components. Aquino referred to a catch-up plan and combatant counts. In follow-up, San Fernando clarified that the 20 percent referred to the socioeconomic part and asked for component-by-component targets and allocations; Aquino named security and socioeconomic components and, after prompting, transitional justice, while San Fernando requested a breakdown including security, transitional justice and reconciliation.

San Fernando described the remaining fourth-phase cohort as 14,000 MILF combatants and about 2,450 weapons. Aquino gave 26,145 already decommissioned and a balance of about 14,000 against the 40,000-combatant total.

San Fernando said the fourth and final phase of MILF decommissioning had stopped, citing the MILF’s stated loss of trust and concerns that other normalization commitments were not being delivered. Aquino said the Government of the Philippines targeted commencement of phase four in 2028, but emphasized that resumption was a joint GPH–MILF undertaking subject to further discussion and agreement between their implementing panels. He said a Kuala Lumpur meeting on September 25 would consider the date for resumption; this was a discussion of timing, not a confirmed restart date. San Fernando welcomed the reported productive meeting between Secretary Mel Sarmiento, as government panel chair, and MILF Chair Murad, and asked for a timetable for completing normalization and reaching an exit agreement. Aquino confirmed a document was available. At the close, he reported that the CPLA had signed a fulfillment agreement with the Secretary on September 1..

San Fernando contrasted OPAPRU’s 2024 PDP midterm update, which marked implementation of signed agreements green as fully implemented and institutionalized, with the 2025 update, which showed yellow for partially implemented and institutionalized. Aquino admitted a color mistake, then explained that the intended status was fully institutionalized rather than that every signed peace agreement had been fully implemented; he cited the Bangsamoro Organic Law and the first BARMM elections as milestones. San Fernando rejected the distinction as semantics because the report legend itself paired “fully implemented” and “institutionalized,” and questioned whether the prior Secretary had misrepresented the report. Aquino pointed to the inherited report and said the current Secretary could not answer for what had happened before. San Fernando said the admission clarified the record but criticized the changing reports.

San Fernando said PAMANA was intended for conflict-affected and conflict-vulnerable areas within the peace process, not as a general development fund. He asked how it operated under peace agreements and requested examples of three areas with their allocations, conflict drivers, governing agreements and intended outcomes. Aquino described it as a conflict-sensitive program delivering physical and social infrastructure and services at regional, provincial and barangay levels. As examples, he recalled 72 Caraga barangays identified as conflict-affected 10–15 years earlier, mentioned possible projects in Agusan del Norte but said he was unsure of the details, and described recent visits to 13 rural schools where water supply was requested. He also cited Cordillera infrastructure projects intended to improve access to services and connectivity. San Fernando asked for regional allocations and project details; Aquino said OPAPRU was willing to submit them.

San Fernando questioned whether routing projects through OPAPRU duplicated work by agencies such as DA and road authorities. Aquino said project validation by PAMANA and the National PAMANA Program Management Office, coordination with agencies and local-government MOAs were intended to prevent duplication. He said projects were enlisted where other offices had no funding and that partner LGUs had to document that a project had not been funded from national, local, international or private sources. San Fernando again requested the regional and project breakdown.

Rep. Dadah Kiram Ismula: Ismula asked how OPAPRU would ensure it had capacity to implement PAMANA and what its 2027 targets were. Aquino clarified that OPAPRU does not itself implement the projects: it downloads funds, while local governments or possibly DPWH implement, and OPAPRU provides oversight. He described region-specific projects and gave an overall FY 2027 target of 152 projects. Ismula then asked OPAPRU’s position on who should implement PAMANA and whether implementation should return to line agencies. Aquino said OPAPRU’s work was more with LGUs and that LGUs were its regular counterparts; when pressed, he said LGUs remained the preferred implementer and rejected returning implementation to line agencies, citing accountability and transparency.

Ismula asked about the August 6–7 meeting of the Government of the Philippines Implementing Panels and the MILF Technical Working Group and their jointly identified deliverables. Aquino said proposed enhancements to bills for the House and Senate had already been submitted by the GPH-MILF Technical Working Group to the Joint Implementing Panel; their approval was on the Kuala Lumpur meeting agenda. If approved, the document would be submitted for a proposed House and Senate workshop to harmonize the proposed national transitional-justice and reconciliation measure. Ismula said the Akbayan Reform Block was the only House group to have filed a TJR bill, in July, and that it remained stalled; she urged OPAPRU to encourage colleagues to file or co-author it. Aquino described the proposed process but made no specific commitment to secure passage. For 2027, he identified approval of the NTJRCB and a planned meeting by the Secretary with the Speaker or Speaker’s office about TJR projects as milestones. Some of the answer about the subsequent steps is fragmented, and the acronym’s expansion is unclear.

Ismula emphasized the importance of women’s meaningful representation, participation and leadership across the peace process and conflict transformation and said she would continue oversight to ensure peace commitments produced security and practical improvements for communities, decommissioned combatants and their families. Aquino responded that she could count on OPAPRU, referring to the new Secretary and naming Mel Sarmiento.

Rep. Renee Louise M. Co: Program targeting and reporting. Co questioned whether PAMANA duplicates services that fall under other agencies’ primary mandates and said she believes funds should be directed to agencies whose primary work is service delivery. Aquino said the PAMANA project management office validates endorsed projects and locations to avoid duplication, and described eligible areas as conflict-affected, conflict-vulnerable, geographically isolated or disadvantaged communities and adjacent areas endorsed through peace mechanisms. He referred to implementation under Department of Budget and Management policies and guidelines and the PAMANA operations manual. Co requested a copy of the manual, related information and reports, and asked about 2026 educational-assistance beneficiaries, 2027 target locations and disbursement, and which SUCs receive assistance. Aquino stated 12,100 beneficiaries for the GPH-MILF peace process and 686 for a second peace-process group, following Co’s question about former MILF and MNLF combatants, then gave a total of 16,150; those figures do not reconcile. Co asked for a report to be provided to the plenary and to her. Aquino said SUCs with MOAs distribute funds to students; the amount is summarized separately with the assistance allocation figures.

Concerns and allegations. Co said she was concerned that PAMANA was being used for alleged rebel returnees. She said she had received reports of fake or sham surrenders in which activists were represented as rebels, and raised concern that educational assistance could be used to deter student criticism and activism. She asked for additional information to check program implementation. These statements are Co’s concerns and attributed reports, not findings established in the exchange.

Women, Peace, and Security. Co asked for a report on OPAPRU’s consultations in different parts of the Philippines in connection with its chairmanship of the National Steering Committee on Women, Peace, and Security. Aquino described reported accomplishments: integration into the comprehensive peace process and localization; localization funds accessed by 18 provinces; regional action-plan and resolution work, including activities by regional bodies and local governments; WPS integration into transformation plans; an Indigenous Peoples women’s WPS agenda; and engagement with local and international civil-society partners and international forums and training. Co requested the consultation reports and asked whether they were publicly available. Aquino answered that a copy could be provided.

Co cited 755 political prisoners, including 103 arrested under the current administration and 147 women, more than half of them farmers; she also cited 21 women victims of extrajudicial killings and four cases of enforced disappearance. She raised intimidation, displacement, bombing, justice for comfort women and the risk of sexual abuse around foreign military sites and exercises as matters she said should be brought into the WPS agenda; she argued that these issues were not yet reflected in OPAPRU’s described activities and manifested her rejection of using women’s bodies and communities as collateral in military alliances and war economies. She said she would await the requested reports. Aquino invited House members to OPAPRU for a further briefing on women, peace, and security; no report delivery or public availability was confirmed.