# House Committee on Appropriations: DBCC Interpellation - August 17, 2026 — Source-Linked Digest

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s8_hW7pHbw

AI-assisted working draft. AI can make errors. Always verify consequential interpretations and wording against the cited transcript and official video.

## At a glance

- **Who was questioned:** Members chiefly questioned DOF on revenue, tax, debt, financing and privatization; DBM on appropriations, releases, safeguards and implementation; and DEPDev on growth, poverty, infrastructure and industrial strategy. BSP and other mandate-specific officials answered financial-sector and specialist questions. [00:00:00 · h2r5-turn-000001](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000001) · [03:05:24 · h2r5-turn-002734](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002734) · [06:40:15 · h2r5-turn-005630](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005630)

- **Main fault lines:** The hearing repeatedly tested whether the 2027 program could reconcile revenue and financing assumptions with poverty, employment, social-sector, infrastructure and regional-development priorities. Late questions focused on the lower 2026 revenue base, nominal-growth tax assumptions and privatization receipts. [01:46:21 · h2r5-turn-001579](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001579) · [03:06:04 · h2r5-turn-002747](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002747) · [06:42:33 · h2r5-turn-005647](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005647) · [06:52:13 · h2r5-turn-005732](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005732) · [06:53:50 · h2r5-turn-005756](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005756)

- **Recurring official answers:** Officials commonly grounded allocations in readiness, utilization, legal restrictions, fiscal space or replacement revenue, while distinguishing a requested policy from a commitment. DEPDev generally paired industrial or growth goals with structural requirements such as energy, connectivity and coordination. [03:07:10 · h2r5-turn-002768](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002768) · [04:30:26 · h2r5-turn-003951](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003951) · [05:23:47 · h2r5-turn-004645](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004645) · [05:24:37 · h2r5-turn-004656](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004656) · [05:28:59 · h2r5-turn-004714](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004714)

- **Concrete submissions and follow-up:** Several answers committed to submit or obtain information rather than provide it immediately, including GAD utilization data through PCW, accounts-payable detail, and education-sector and free-higher-education breakdowns or deficiency data. [03:14:40 · h2r5-turn-002869](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002869) · [04:37:58 · h2r5-turn-004049](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004049) · [04:38:37 · h2r5-turn-004056](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004056) · [04:55:22 · h2r5-turn-004270](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004270) · [05:48:44 · h2r5-turn-004963](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004963)

- **Unresolved matters:** The record leaves material questions for later resolution: detailed allocation and utilization data, the legal and booking treatment of earmarked funds, outstanding accounts-payable detail, the delivery of privatization receipts, and policy proposals for which officials offered only conditional consideration or study. [03:23:30 · h2r5-turn-002987](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002987) · [03:48:56 · h2r5-turn-003362](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003362) · [05:07:52 · h2r5-turn-004407](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004407) · [05:57:27 · h2r5-turn-005087](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005087) · [06:56:06 · h2r5-turn-005777](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005777)

Reading note: Amounts, forecasts, legal interpretations, and policy positions are attributed to the speakers who gave them. A promised submission, study, or later coordination is not treated as an immediate answer or completed commitment.

## Rep. Elijah Rumbaoa San Fernando

### Human-centered budget and social-sector delivery

San Fernando questioned how the FY 2027 proposal could be called human-centered while he saw continuing social-sector cuts. DBM said classroom provision had been evaluated and was not zero, health-workforce support remained intact, and the social sector remained the largest sector. It also pointed to a released SARO for free-higher-education arrears and CHED distribution to state universities and colleges; those were DBM's qualifications to the cuts critique, not San Fernando's acceptance of the characterization.

[00:00:05 · h2r5-turn-000003](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000003) · [00:01:10 · h2r5-turn-000019](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000019)

### Job quality, manufacturing, and competitiveness

San Fernando contrasted the government's manufacturing-job target with reported manufacturing and industry losses, and argued that retail and other elementary, low-paying work did not meet the test of quality employment. Balisacan distinguished wage-and-salary work from informal, retail, and trade work; he said the former was generally more regular and better quality, had improved over the longer term, and could recover after the recent slowdown. On San Fernando's call for high-value industrial jobs, Balisacan agreed on the objective and pointed to faster project execution, infrastructure and energy costs, alongside doing-business and institutional-trust constraints.

[00:09:24 · h2r5-turn-000145](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000145) · [00:10:33 · h2r5-turn-000161](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000161)

### Electricity VAT and replacement revenue

Returning to high energy costs as a constraint on industry and better-paying jobs, San Fernando proposed removing or reducing VAT on electricity. DEPDev said tax changes could be considered but must account for fiscal space, other development investment, and replacement revenue. DOF said it was neutral on removing electricity VAT, or any tax, only if another revenue source replaced it; without that replacement, it would oppose removal.

[05:21:04 · h2r5-turn-004603](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004603) · [05:21:46 · h2r5-turn-004614](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004614) · [05:23:15 · h2r5-turn-004633](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004633)

### National-local coordination and project delivery

San Fernando described implementation as fragmented and asked whether that was blocking industrial development. DEPDev did not accept the claim for every program, but identified deficient national-local coordination in some DPWH projects, including right-of-way, and said those problems had to be corrected for efficient implementation.

[05:23:55 · h2r5-turn-004646](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004646) · [05:24:18 · h2r5-turn-004650](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004650)

### Industrial policy and the Philippine Development Plan

San Fernando argued that neighboring economies pursued industrial policy despite comparable constraints and pressed for a more ambitious Philippine approach to manufacturing and quality jobs. Balisacan rejected the claim that the country lacked ambition, cited Ambisyon Natin 2040 and prior progress, and said industrial policy can work but requires energy, roads, connectivity, and other structural conditions to be fixed. In his closing reply, he directed San Fernando to the Philippine Development Plan and its update as the government's existing industrial-policy framework, rather than committing to a new measure in the exchange.

[05:25:03 · h2r5-turn-004663](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004663) · [05:27:27 · h2r5-turn-004688](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004688) · [05:31:02 · h2r5-turn-004747](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004747)

## Rep. Arnan C. Panaligan

### Industrial strategy, budget capacity, and growth from implementation

Panaligan linked reliance on services, reduced major-sector proposals, and unspent agency balances to weak industrialization and slow growth. He asked DEPDev for a reindustrialization roadmap and challenged why a proposed budget rising from PHP 6.7 trillion in 2026 to PHP 7.2 trillion in 2027 would still reduce major sectors. DEPDev said longstanding structural constraints had kept industry from becoming competitive and profitable; DBM said it recommended lower infrastructure amounts based on agencies' absorptive capacity, while noting that the level was nearly the same as the 2026 NEP. Panaligan then tied delayed spending to the 2.6-percent first-quarter and 2.3-percent second-quarter growth figures he cited. DBM agreed that earlier implementation would contribute to growth, without adopting his attribution of the whole slowdown to underspending.

[00:17:55 · h2r5-turn-000309](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000309) · [00:20:07 · h2r5-turn-000359](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000359) · [00:25:29 · h2r5-turn-000458](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000458)

### AFP modernization: release conditions and maritime-development case

Panaligan asked about the PHP 50-billion FY 2026 unprogrammed appropriation for the revised AFP modernization program and argued that naval modernization could secure aquatic resources and possible gas or oil deposits, supporting exploration and poverty reduction. DBM said no release had yet been made from that FY 2026 unprogrammed appropriation; it identified excess revenue and continuing need as conditions, with programmed appropriations taking priority. It agreed in principle with the naval-development case but limited its commitment to evaluating documented Navy and wider-AFP requests, not to a release or waiver of those conditions.

[00:26:35 · h2r5-turn-000483](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000483) · [00:27:08 · h2r5-turn-000497](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000497) · [00:28:41 · h2r5-turn-000533](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000533)

## Rep. Edgar R. Erice

### Budget planning, agency screening, and post-bicam safeguards

Erice asked how the DBCC keeps the expenditure program aligned with development priorities and then challenged DBM over his asserted PHP 1.45-trillion realignment. DBM said the DBCC sets the medium- to long-term fiscal program, deficit and expenditure ceiling; DBM then screens agency proposals for plan alignment, documents, readiness and utilization. On the asserted realignment, De Leon said he was not personally privy to the particular items; DBM sees projects once the enrolled bill arrives after bicam and recommends that changed or new projects be substantiated by departments before implementation. This describes a post-bicam safeguard, not a firsthand explanation or verification of Erice's historical assertion.

[00:29:27 · h2r5-turn-000547](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000547) · [00:29:56 · h2r5-turn-000554](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000554) · [00:34:36 · h2r5-turn-000611](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000611)

### Foreign-assisted-project approval pipeline and pre-plenary disclosure

Erice asked why foreign-assisted projects that were already approved remained unprogrammed and how long they would take to process. DBM said FY 2027 foreign-assisted projects in unprogrammed appropriations were still awaiting ICC and ED Council approval, while ongoing or approved projects were in programmed appropriations. It committed to give the Committee a breakdown of the support and accepted Erice's request to submit it one or two weeks before plenary; it did not state a processing duration.

[00:37:12 · h2r5-turn-000652](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000652) · [00:37:21 · h2r5-turn-000655](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000655) · [00:37:57 · h2r5-turn-000663](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000663)

### Debt measure, recovery forecast, and competing explanations of the slowdown

Erice distinguished national-government debt from general-government debt, then asked the basis for more favorable GDP and inflation projections and argued that the budget and flood-control scandal were the main source of the downturn. DOF gave general-government debt at 58.6 percent and, after the distinction, national-government debt-to-GDP at 64.9 percent; it did not verify his proposed announcement date. DEPDev projected 3.5 to 4.5 percent growth for the current year and 5 to 6 percent for the next, tying recovery to faster delivery of delayed programs and restored confidence. It did not adopt Erice's single-cause account, instead citing governance issues, the Middle East conflict's oil-price and inflation effects, earlier trade uncertainty and climate disturbances, and a response through available tools including UPLIFT.

[00:38:18 · h2r5-turn-000670](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000670) · [00:38:26 · h2r5-turn-000671](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000671) · [00:39:33 · h2r5-turn-000693](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000693)

### Governance recovery, executive execution, and conditional local-project monitoring

Erice asked whether confidence could return without resolving governance issues, what the executive would do, and how an asserted PHP 8-billion local-project example could be monitored and accounted for. DEPDev called for a whole-of-government response involving the executive, Congress and judiciary; for the executive, it pointed to faster execution of programs, especially infrastructure, while Congress would need to pass identified urgent laws. On the local-project example, DBM's answer was conditional: where national-government projects are implemented by LGUs, DILG monitors implementation under utilization guidelines alongside COA's regular audit function. DBM said it would take note of the concern; it did not verify Erice's example or establish monitoring capacity for it.

[00:44:01 · h2r5-turn-000774](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000774) · [00:44:03 · h2r5-turn-000775](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000775) · [00:48:33 · h2r5-turn-000867](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000867)

## Rep. Romeo S. Momo Sr.

### Infrastructure benchmark, PPP coverage, and GOCC delivery

Momo urged an infrastructure allocation of five to six percent of GDP and asked what the FY 2027 proposal provided. DBM put infrastructure projects in the 2027 NEP at 4.4 percent of GDP; Momo calculated PHP 1.467 trillion, which DBM confirmed. DBM said that NEP-only ratio excluded ongoing and intended public-private-partnership projects, which it expected could move total infrastructure spending closer to five percent. On the GOCC infrastructure entry, DBM described subsidy funding for GOCC implementers, including National Irrigation Administration irrigation projects and Philippine Fisheries Development Authority fish-port projects. It did not say that the NEP alone met Momo's benchmark.

[00:49:28 · h2r5-turn-000879](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000879) · [00:50:18 · h2r5-turn-000895](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000895) · [00:51:19 · h2r5-turn-000911](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000911)

### Absorptive capacity, classroom and farm-road delivery, and DPWH partnering

Momo questioned whether agencies could absorb their infrastructure allocations: he cited DepEd's PHP 36.6-billion classroom allocation while 2026 work was only beginning, and said DA projects in his region had not started and could pile up. DBM said the DepEd recommendation reflected 2026 appropriations just entering implementation and procurement, including downloading to LGUs; for farm-to-market roads, it said it had recommended less than the agency's original proposal while 2026 projects continued. Momo proposed using DPWH's higher engineering capacity. DBM said agencies generally favored implementing their own projects during preparation, but could engage DPWH through a memorandum of agreement. The answer described an available implementing arrangement, not a direction to transfer those projects to DPWH.

[00:53:40 · h2r5-turn-000941](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000941) · [00:53:57 · h2r5-turn-000944](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000944) · [00:55:34 · h2r5-turn-000962](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000962)

### Regional allocation equity for CAR and Caraga

Momo said CAR and Caraga repeatedly received the lowest percentage shares in regionalized allocations and urged criteria that would help poorer regions catch up. DBM confirmed the percentage-share figures but said both regions received higher per-capita allocations than the regional average. After Momo also raised land area and infrastructure deficits, DBM accepted the suggestion for improvement in the planning-and-budgeting linkage; it did not promise a revised allocation formula.

[00:56:23 · h2r5-turn-000974](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000974) · [00:56:59 · h2r5-turn-000978](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000978) · [00:58:21 · h2r5-turn-000998](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-000998)

## Rep. Dadah Kiram Ismula

### Debt-service fiscal space and foreign-assisted-project charges

Ismula asked what programs or investments were deprioritized to accommodate debt service, then whether delayed foreign-assisted projects created commitment fees, penalties, or other charges. DBM said it had prioritized agency proposals from an original PHP 11.9-trillion submission, including whether agencies could spend foreign-assisted-project proposals within the fiscal year, but could not name one project omitted because debt service is an automatic appropriation; it described aggregate projects left out because fiscal space was limited. DBM confirmed that unutilized loans incur commitment fees and said ongoing projects were prioritized in programmed appropriations. DOF reported PHP 3.4 billion in commitment fees during the Marcos administration, specifically not a combined fee-and-penalty total. It did not provide a verified contractual-penalty total: DOF said it would have to confirm whether there were penalties, distinguished possible DOTR or DPWH contract penalties, and said that from DOF's own position there were none.

[01:00:33 · h2r5-turn-001031](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001031) · [01:01:00 · h2r5-turn-001032](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001032) · [01:04:06 · h2r5-turn-001064](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001064)

### El Nino preparation through regular programs and UPLIFT

Ismula asked whether the FY 2027 budget prepared for El Nino after the DBCC identified it as a growth risk, noting that the Calamity Fund appeared unchanged. DBM said the response was not limited to that lump sum: DA regular programs include fertilizer, irrigation and solar-irrigation provisions that agencies can use against the risk. When she repeated the concern, DBM said El Nino had already been considered under the current UPLIFT program, with additional assistance to DA not needing to wait for 2027. It clarified that UPLIFT uses identified savings rather than unprogrammed appropriations.

[01:06:10 · h2r5-turn-001089](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001089) · [01:07:01 · h2r5-turn-001098](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001098) · [01:08:09 · h2r5-turn-001108](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001108)

### Returning OFWs, reintegration, and employment outlook

Citing Middle East tensions, slower remittances and projected unemployment, Ismula asked whether the FY 2027 budget could support OFWs through reintegration and jobs after return, and how many jobs it would create by industry. DEPDev said UPLIFT was handling assistance and reintegration for displaced workers, but deferred details to the Department of Migrant Workers because it did not have them at the hearing. It had not worked through a sector-by-sector job estimate. It linked the employment concern to the sharp slowdown and said it hoped proper deployment of the next year's budget would help recovery; this was an expectation, not a job-creation count or a specified reintegration package.

[01:09:04 · h2r5-turn-001118](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001118) · [01:10:06 · h2r5-turn-001128](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001128) · [01:10:57 · h2r5-turn-001147](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001147)

## Rep. Maria Angela S. Garcia

### RDC vetting, NEP visibility, and planning-budget linkage

Garcia said projects, programs and activities proposed and approved through Regional Development Councils can become a blind spot because regions may learn what reached the NEP only after its release, weakening the bottom-up and top-down discussion of needs. DBM said Form C requires RDC completion so proposals are vetted by the RDC, acknowledged the gap as an emerging finding, and said it was working with DEPDev to harmonize investment-programming and budget calendars and portals for a hoped-for next-cycle improvement. It did not present the linkage reform as completed.

[01:13:27 · h2r5-turn-001190](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001190) · [01:15:43 · h2r5-turn-001213](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001213)

### Agency ceilings, RDC indicative amounts, and unresolved timetable

Garcia asked who currently sets ceilings and chooses which RDC submissions reach the NEP. DBM said the 2027 budget call gives ceilings by department or agency, with agency central offices selecting projects for their proposals to DBM. It said DBM and DEPDev were considering calendar harmonization and earlier ceiling issuance so central offices could give RDCs indicative amounts; this remained an improvement under consideration, not an allocation rule already in force. Garcia hoped the discrepancy could be addressed in 2027 or 2028, but her time expired and she requested a second round, so no year-specific commitment was made in this exchange.

[01:17:04 · h2r5-turn-001228](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001228) · [01:18:10 · h2r5-turn-001237](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001237)

## Rep. Iris Marie Demesa Montes

### Health financing, PhilHealth subsidy, and Zero Balance Billing

Montes asked how much of the FY 2027 budget would expand health financing and service capacity rather than maintain existing programs, then asked whether PhilHealth would receive support beyond member contributions and its sin-tax share. DBM cited PHP 362.73 billion for health-sector UHC implementation, including PHP 270.98 billion for DOH and a PHP 74.45-billion PhilHealth subsidy. It said the PhilHealth GAA subsidy includes the expansion of Zero Balance Billing to national and local hospitals, but excludes PhilHealth's FY 2027 corporate operating budget; it confirmed the subsidy comes from sin-tax collections. The exchange did not establish an additional national-government allocation beyond that stated GAA subsidy.

[01:22:24 · h2r5-turn-001300](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001300) · [01:22:44 · h2r5-turn-001302](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001302) · [01:23:47 · h2r5-turn-001312](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001312)

### Procurement and infrastructure accountability reforms

Montes asked DBM what reforms beyond project readiness and documentation would prevent corruption, ghost projects, and waste. DBM said more rigorous proposal review was its primary reform, and identified early procurement as a pending implementation reform to address late infrastructure execution. It also described more open procurement under the new Government Procurement Act, including livestreaming and publication of procurement details, and continued agency performance reviews and DBM Compass for release tracking. DBM said Project DIME would supplement documentary accomplishment reports with satellite imagery to validate reported infrastructure work; it was presented as a prospective validation mechanism, not completed findings.

[01:25:21 · h2r5-turn-001324](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001324) · [01:26:02 · h2r5-turn-001328](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001328) · [01:27:12 · h2r5-turn-001340](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001340)

### Cadena Act and accessible technology for budget transparency

Montes asked why the Cadena Act was absent from DEPDev's displayed priority bills, urged it as a citizen-participation transparency reform, and asked DBM for its position. DEPDev said the display was only a partial economic-development list; Cadena was among LEDAC's more than 50 measures and DEPDev would continue to push it. DBM echoed that it remained on the list and said it was considering available technologies to strengthen budget transparency, but any final platform had to be usable, reliable and accessible despite uneven signal and internet access across the archipelago. Neither agency announced a selected platform or enacted reform in this exchange.

[01:27:59 · h2r5-turn-001349](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001349) · [01:28:57 · h2r5-turn-001354](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001354) · [01:29:54 · h2r5-turn-001370](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001370)

### Infrastructure as a long-lived investment and the limits of project specificity

Montes asked which FY 2027 investments would create lasting economic value and then requested concrete infrastructure examples. DOF identified infrastructure, estimating a multiplier of probably three to six times for every peso spent and stressing its long-lived value to future generations; the range was an estimate, not a guaranteed return. It named rail investments, including a Metro Manila line and the North-South Commuter Line, alongside numerous DPWH projects, but Secretary Go said he did not know the specific DPWH projects. The exchange therefore supplied examples but not a project-level DPWH list.

[01:31:12 · h2r5-turn-001382](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001382) · [01:31:29 · h2r5-turn-001383](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001383) · [01:32:16 · h2r5-turn-001395](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001395)

## Rep. Albert S. Garcia

### Transport congestion, connectivity, and regional growth

Garcia cited JICA's PHP 3.5-billion daily congestion loss and argued that transport investment should reach peripheral and east-west links, not merely congested corridors. DBM pointed to NEP transport and mass-transit priorities, while DEPDev described a long-term master plan for physical and digital links between highly urbanized and lagging areas. Garcia also raised unmanaged migration to Metro Manila; DEPDev said high-potential regional growth poles could reduce the need to move to the capital, while noting lower population growth had eased migration pressure.

[01:32:54 · h2r5-turn-001405](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001405) · [01:34:36 · h2r5-turn-001425](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001425) · [01:37:10 · h2r5-turn-001456](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001456)

### Foreign-assisted project delays, right-of-way, and missing cumulative data

Garcia asked whether delayed foreign-assisted projects created costs beyond commitment fees and urged locally grounded, shovel-ready preparation. DOF said agency contracts might carry delay penalties, but the clearer recurring cost was escalation: years of delay could produce cost overruns or double project costs. It said right-of-way must now be secured before projects come up for approval, reversing the earlier sequence. Garcia requested cumulative delay amounts, but no amount or delivery date was supplied before the intervention ended.

[01:42:35 · h2r5-turn-001526](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001526) · [01:43:11 · h2r5-turn-001532](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001532) · [01:45:17 · h2r5-turn-001561](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001561)

### Bottom-up planning and the final agency submission bottleneck

Garcia said locally identified projects that had passed PIP, PIPOL, AIP, PDC and RDC processes were only minimally reflected in the 2027 NEP, and argued that demand-driven local identification can reduce ghost-project risk. DBM shared the observation, identified final central-agency submission as the bottleneck, and described work toward a traceable local-council-to-RDC-to-agency-to-DBM flow. It did not promise that every local proposal would be funded.

[05:32:47 · h2r5-turn-004777](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004777) · [05:34:28 · h2r5-turn-004791](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004791)

### Meritocracy, agency performance, and EO 61 review

Garcia asked whether government had an effective meritocracy and proposed alignment with the House's initiative. DBM pointed to agency performance indicators and mid-year and year-end reviews, but said the indicators themselves required re-examination. It described the EO 61 technical-working-group review of performance metrics and parameters as an active review process that could recommend changes, not proof that the present system was already effective.

[05:36:56 · h2r5-turn-004820](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004820) · [05:38:04 · h2r5-turn-004831](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004831)

### CREATE MORE incentives and registered-investment performance

Garcia questioned whether CREATE MORE had left incentives overly centralized and uniform. Go said CREATE MORE devolved approval to investment-promotion agencies subject to the threshold, offered a five-percent special corporate-income-tax or enhanced-deduction choice, and allowed customized packages for investments over PHP 50 billion. On investment results, he cited all investment-promotion agencies' registered investments rather than foreign investment alone, said they exceeded PHP 1.9 trillion across 2024 and 2025, and acknowledged the Philippines remained behind ASEAN neighbours.

[05:39:28 · h2r5-turn-004846](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004846) · [05:40:28 · h2r5-turn-004852](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004852) · [05:42:41 · h2r5-turn-004889](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004889)

### Local PPP authority, awards, and the missing comparison

Garcia challenged the PPP Code as overly centralized and asked whether it had produced more local PPPs. The PPP Center said review, negotiation and approval remain with LGUs; its own role is a completeness check, and roughly 50 unsolicited LGU proposals were at differing review or negotiation stages. When Garcia said he had seen no new consummated contract, the Center cited three local PPP awards in the first quarter but lacked the requested pre-Code comparison and committed to submit it.

[05:43:45 · h2r5-turn-004907](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004907) · [05:44:39 · h2r5-turn-004916](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004916) · [05:46:52 · h2r5-turn-004937](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004937)

## Rep. Percival "Perci" Cendaña

### Lowered growth outlook, fiscal-path revisions, and requested downside evidence

Cendaña contrasted the earlier 6-to-7-percent FY 2027 growth expectation with the new 5-to-6-percent projection, asked for the external-versus-domestic attribution, and asked what four-percent growth would do to revenue, the deficit and debt-to-GDP. DEPDev cited the Middle East conflict, global trade uncertainty and changing U.S. tariffs, saying the lower target was intended to be realistic and enduring; it did not quantify the requested attribution. DOF said lower GDP assumptions lower tax-revenue assumptions proportionately, based on macroeconomic inputs, but did not quantify the deficit or debt effects. Cendaña requested a downside scenario, and Chair Garcia directed DBCC to submit it. He also challenged the shift from a 4.8-percent to a 5.1-percent FY 2027 deficit target; DOF described the DBCC's twice-yearly review and said war-related inflation and 2.8-percent actual GDP growth required updated assumptions. A requested 2025–2027 BESF reconciliation was directed for submission, not furnished during the exchange.

[01:47:50 · h2r5-turn-001593](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001593) · [01:49:02 · h2r5-turn-001598](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001598) · [01:50:45 · h2r5-turn-001628](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001628)

### Revenue downgrade, PROGRESS tax measures, and the requested forecast bridge

Cendaña contrasted the prior PHP 5.366-trillion FY 2027 revenue expectation with PHP 5.206 trillion and asked where roughly PHP 161 billion had been lost. DOF linked the downgrade to a slower economy and correspondingly lower tax collections. When he asked whether weak collection would obstruct tax relief, VAT changes or a wealth tax, DOF described its PROGRESS bill: the bill contains two revenue-eroding measures—raising the personal-income-tax threshold from PHP 250,000 to PHP 350,000 and exempting micro and small industries from minimum corporate income tax—and eight proposed revenue-enhancing measures on social, environmental and health taxes. DOF said the latter would fully cover the former only if Congress approved them. Cendaña's requested bridge from the old to the new forecast was directed for submission, not supplied in the hearing.

[01:55:05 · h2r5-turn-001691](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001691) · [01:55:22 · h2r5-turn-001695](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001695) · [01:55:57 · h2r5-turn-001704](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001704)

### Health-allocation comparison, PhilHealth factors, and requested reconciliation

Cendaña cited an approximately PHP 96-billion decline in functional health allocation and asked for the program-level effects, including PhilHealth and out-of-pocket implications. DBM attributed the comparison chiefly to lower Health Facilities Enhancement Program funding because of DOH's FY 2026 utilization, MAIFIP retained at the FY 2026 NEP level, a PHP 14-billion additional PhilHealth subsidy for Zero Balance Billing, and the one-time PHP 60-billion return of fund balance to PhilHealth included in the FY 2026 level. Cendaña requested a 2025–2027 reconciliation covering DOH, PhilHealth, health facilities, medical assistance and related appropriations; DBM said it would provide it and Chair Garcia directed DBCC to submit it. The reconciliation itself was not furnished in the exchange.

[01:57:22 · h2r5-turn-001722](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001722) · [01:58:15 · h2r5-turn-001726](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001726) · [01:59:53 · h2r5-turn-001751](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001751)

### Closing concern over social-service reductions

As his time ended, Cendaña made a closing manifestation that social services were among the budget's top losers and criticized the budget's treatment of people facing high prices and hardship. No substantive official response followed before the round closed, so this remains an attributed, unanswered concern rather than an established allocation finding.

[01:59:59 · h2r5-turn-001760](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001760)

## Rep. Marie Bernadette G. Escudero

### Tourism SAGF access, balance disclosure, and Table B.15 presentation

Escudero asked why DOT must file a separate budget request before using the Tourism Development and Tourism Promotions Funds and whether DBM was checking balances, purpose, or another release layer. Acting DBM Secretary De Leon said every agency's Special Account in the General Fund use requires a special budget request to test whether proposed spending fits the account's purpose and to subject use to fiscal programming; the NEP programs only the portion of the actual balance that the agency can use in the fiscal year. A later follow-up requested at least three years of balances, releases, obligations, and unreleased balances for both tourism funds, but its speaker ownership remains held: the current r1069 labels conflict with the exchange sequence. No substantive three-year disclosure was supplied. DBM then said Table B.15 used December 2025 balances and that the 2027 special provision presented the same programmed amount by reference to the table rather than printing the amount in the provision.

[02:01:42 · h2r5-turn-001780](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001780) · [02:02:00 · h2r5-turn-001783](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001783) · [02:04:23 · h2r5-turn-001810](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001810)

### Tourism Promotions Fund level and the proposed risk-based SAGF mechanism

Escudero confirmed that the Tourism Promotions Fund's programmed 2027 expenditure was PHP 1.119 billion, down from PHP 1.339 billion in 2026, and asked why it fell. DBM cited TPB's available 2026 utilization data and committed 2026 ASEAN-hosting activities as considerations, characterizing the latter as a one-off event. Escudero then proposed a uniform, risk-based mechanism for earmarked public-purpose revenue that would preserve DBM, Treasury, and COA safeguards while allowing agencies to access funds efficiently. DBM did not adopt that mechanism: it said SAGFs are automatic appropriations but programs fiscal-year use to avoid raising the deficit beyond what an agency needs or can spend. It offered to work with Escudero and share the bases used to set programmed levels, not to commit to the proposed framework.

[02:06:01 · h2r5-turn-001831](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001831) · [02:06:40 · h2r5-turn-001839](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001839) · [02:08:05 · h2r5-turn-001851](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001851)

## Rep. Sarah Jane I. Elago

### Borrowing breakdown and debt-service burden

Elago read a PHP 3.304-trillion borrowing figure from the presentation and sought a domestic-and-external-source breakdown; Chair Garcia directed DBCC to submit it, while the exchange itself did not confirm that figure. She then contrasted PHP 1.1 trillion in interest with principal amortization. DOF gave PHP 1.6 trillion principal amortization for the current year; Elago consequently characterized total debt service as PHP 2.7 trillion and criticized its automatic-appropriations character. The DOF answer was a current-year amount, not a stated 2027 principal forecast.

[02:10:19 · h2r5-turn-001875](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001875) · [02:12:01 · h2r5-turn-001893](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001893)

### Flood-control project loans and budget reprioritization

Elago asked why PHP 19 billion in foreign-assisted flood-control projects remained funded while agricultural production subsidy and longer-term job creation lacked funds, and whether the allocation could move. DBM said the DPWH amount was project loans secured for purposes specified in the National Expenditure Program and agreed with development partners, so it could not be used for another purpose. That explains the financing restriction but does not resolve Elago's priority objection.

[02:12:59 · h2r5-turn-001907](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001907) · [02:13:48 · h2r5-turn-001919](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001919)

### Poverty-line methodology, daily divisor, and wage comparison

Elago challenged the continued use of a 2017 value and a stated food-poverty amount in setting the poverty threshold. DEPDev said it adjusts the threshold for purchasing power or inflation whenever it recomputes poverty; it reported PHP 16,842 for an NCR family of five and PHP 14,634 as the national average, then said the NCR daily figure was PHP 554. It emphasized that the line is a consistent way to track poverty reduction, not a claim that PHP 554 is enough for a decent standard of living. In a later exchange, DEPDev explained that it used a 30.4-day monthly divisor; Elago accepted the PHP 554 calculation, said seven regions' minimum wages were below the threshold, and linked that concern to a national-minimum-wage proposal. That regional-wage conclusion received no separate in-round DEPDev answer.

[02:14:40 · h2r5-turn-001929](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001929) · [02:14:58 · h2r5-turn-001934](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-001934) · [05:49:55 · h2r5-turn-004975](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004975)

### Pax Silica's proposed industrial hub and fiscal exposure

Elago asked whether the US-led Pax Silica initiative was part of an AI-manufacturing-hub plan and what public spending, BCDA property role, land implications, and DICT allocation it could entail. DEPDev described the young, evolving initiative as potentially consistent with attracting higher-value industry and jobs. On the fiscal question, DOF said conditionally that, if an industrial hub were built in New Clark City, it saw no budget requirement because the project would pay rent and be revenue-enhancing. DOF later stressed that the hub remained proposed, nothing had been signed, and no budget or expense line would be included for a preliminary discussion. The exchange therefore supplied no settled fiscal estimate, land-conversion cost, or confirmed DICT allocation.

[02:18:16 · h2r5-turn-002003](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002003) · [02:18:35 · h2r5-turn-002007](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002007) · [02:21:09 · h2r5-turn-002048](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002048)

### Gender-budget utilization data and requested assessment

Elago requested the 2025 GAD-compliance and utilization report and asked whether DBM checks the proper use of GAD funds and gender equality embedded in programs. DBM did not have the utilization figure in the room, but committed to coordinate with the Philippine Commission on Women and submit the data through the Committee on Appropriations. Elago also requested an assessment of how agencies integrate equality and anti-discrimination into programs, activities and projects; no in-round utilization finding or assessment was supplied.

[05:47:47 · h2r5-turn-004947](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004947) · [05:48:15 · h2r5-turn-004955](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004955)

### VAT and fuel-tax relief versus replacement revenue

Elago sought an update on proposals to review, suspend or reduce VAT on basic needs and to broaden oil-excise relief beyond LPG and kerosene, including diesel and other petroleum products; she also asked about UPLIFT and reported petroleum-VAT windfalls. DOF said it was not opposed to removing a tax if a replacement revenue source were identified, because the PHP 7.2-trillion national expenditure budget had to be financed. It said the statutory VAT rate is 12 percent but the effective rate is about 6 percent because of exemptions, and framed the decision as identifying replacement revenue or accepting reductions in services. No specific VAT or fuel-tax relief was committed.

[05:51:27 · h2r5-turn-005005](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005005) · [05:53:02 · h2r5-turn-005020](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005020)

### High-wealth and multinational tax proposals

Elago asked whether the very wealthy and large corporations could contribute more, including through a billionaire tax. DOF said the PROGRESS Bill included a higher automobile tax for the luxury segment, a proposed tax on private planes, and a global minimum tax for multinational operations. It did not endorse a billionaire-tax design or amount, saying it would continue to study that question internally.

[05:54:49 · h2r5-turn-005048](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005048) · [05:56:15 · h2r5-turn-005066](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005066)

## Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez

### Mindanao's share, regional visibility, and the request for affirmative action

Rodriguez said Mindanao's 15.1-percent regional budget share lagged its 22.3-percent population, 18-to-19-percent economic contribution and seven of the ten poorest provinces, and urged affirmative action, ultimately asking that the share reach at least 20 percent before the HGAB was approved. DBM said it was working with DEPDev to put more weight on RDC-endorsed projects and improve the planning-budget linkage. It said central-office or lump-sum items may be intended for Mindanao but cannot be regionally attributed during NEP preparation, and that it would continue evaluating more accurate presentation of intended regional beneficiaries; it also pointed to Mindanao as having the highest average increase outside NCR and reported a 10.6 increase for the good representatives' region. Rodriguez criticized reliance on RDC and agency submissions and characterized lump sums as favoring more-connected areas; that remained his contention, not a DBM finding. DEPDev confirmed receipt of the six Mindanao RDCs' unanimous resolution, but officials did not agree in this exchange to set the allocation at 20 percent.

[02:27:38 · h2r5-turn-002154](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002154) · [02:30:05 · h2r5-turn-002190](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002190) · [02:36:20 · h2r5-turn-002288](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002288)

### Turning RDC priorities in the NEP into priorities in the GAA

Rodriguez used the Mindanao resolution to press DEPDev for support. Balisacan did not promise a particular regional allocation or procedural repair. Instead, he described a broader planning-to-appropriation break: about 50 percent of RDC priorities are reflected in the NEP, but only 30 to 35 percent remain consistent with regional priorities when the GAA emerges. He said the response required better coordination within the executive and between the executive and legislature.

[02:35:52 · h2r5-turn-002284](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002284) · [02:36:38 · h2r5-turn-002292](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002292)

## Rep. Sergio C. Dagooc

### Household electricity burden and missing production-cost data

Dagooc said high energy cost constrained development and sought electricity's share of both household spending and production and service costs. DEPDev put household electricity expenditure at a 5.3-percent national average. Balisacan did not have the requested cross-sector production-and-services figure at the hearing, but said DEPDev could extract it from its database; the outcome was a data commitment, not the requested result.

[02:39:15 · h2r5-turn-002340](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002340) · [02:39:59 · h2r5-turn-002352](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002352) · [02:40:37 · h2r5-turn-002365](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002365)

### EPIRA reform, competition enforcement, and specified provisions

Dagooc asked which EPIRA provisions should be amended to reduce electricity costs and later named cross-ownership, Sections 43(F), 47 and 45, and open access. Balisacan said DEPDev had a study; identified stronger ERC capacity and ERC-PCC coordination against market-power abuse; and described the previous Congress's LEDAC preference for sequential work—PSALM's life, ERC strengthening, then ERC/PCC competition mandates—because a comprehensive amendment would be complex. The exchange did not record DEPDev's endorsement or rejection of Dagooc's listed sections.

[02:41:22 · h2r5-turn-002375](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002375) · [02:41:54 · h2r5-turn-002379](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002379)

### Renewable-grid sequencing and electricity-tax proposals

Dagooc supported renewable energy but warned that rapidly expanding intermittent generation before the grid was ready would require transmission upgrades and ancillary or backup plants, leaving consumers to pay generation, ancillary and transmission costs. He urged DEPDev and DOE to revisit that sequence. He also sought review of electricity taxes and charges, including excise tax and customs duties on imported coal, VAT at multiple stages, GIALL and FITALL, and proposed examining BIR's revenue target and the treatment of charges above an ERC benchmark. No official made a substantive on-record decision on either proposal. Chair Garcia agreed to arrange a discussion with BIR, and Balisacan agreed to sit down with Dagooc.

[02:45:23 · h2r5-turn-002433](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002433) · [02:51:24 · h2r5-turn-002490](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002490)

### Caliraya, Agos, and Pulangi asset-sale objection

Dagooc asked why profitable Caliraya, Agos and Pulangi assets would be sold, arguing that privatizing profitable public assets would leave government without control. Chair Garcia thanked him, said the matter could be taken in a next round, and arranged the follow-up discussion; neither the Chair nor DEPDev supplied an ownership-policy explanation or ruling on the proposed sales during this exchange.

[02:50:19 · h2r5-turn-002476](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002476) · [02:50:40 · h2r5-turn-002481](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002481)

## Rep. Antonino B. Roman III

### Vertical NTA shares and the municipal-allocation concern

Roman welcomed the total NTA increase but challenged its distribution. He recited the Local Government Code's vertical shares—23 percent for cities, 20 percent for provinces, 34 percent for municipalities and 20 percent for barangays—which DOF confirmed. He contrasted 149 cities with the municipal category, for which DBM gave 1,491 municipalities in 2025. DBM agreed municipalities tend to receive less per LGU than cities given the statutory share and their number, and said cities generally have higher tax bases and more capacity to levy taxes. Roman argued municipalities collectively contain more people while receiving 34 percent; DBM agreed only as an aggregate proposition and said the distribution follows the statute.

[02:52:05 · h2r5-turn-002509](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002509) · [02:52:57 · h2r5-turn-002527](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002527) · [02:53:31 · h2r5-turn-002540](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002540)

### Missing utilization figures and municipal NTA dependence

Roman asked whether municipalities used roughly 85 to 90 percent of NTA compared with about 60 percent for cities, and whether municipal utilization was at least higher generally. DBM said it did not have actual or exact NTA-utilization figures at the hearing. It instead offered NTA dependence as the closest available indicator and said it was higher in municipalities than cities. Roman argued that, other things equal, higher dependence should justify more funding. DBM did not promise to change the statutory formula, but said additional support for LGUs needing more would be warranted if capacity allowed, while naming quality of spending as another consideration.

[02:55:17 · h2r5-turn-002563](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002563) · [02:55:32 · h2r5-turn-002565](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002565) · [02:56:19 · h2r5-turn-002573](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002573)

### Horizontal distribution formula and a possible statutory review

Roman distinguished the horizontal distribution inside the municipal category from the vertical split. DBM confirmed the Local Government Code formula: 50 percent by population, 25 percent by land area, and the remaining 25 percent equally among municipalities. Roman asked whether population correlated with municipal income and proposed a more rational distribution considering merit, outcomes or the Seal of Good Local Governance. DOF said officials were following the current law, but had discussed with the World Bank whether it should be reviewed or updated, specifically considering poverty incidence and absorptive capacity. Go said any adjustment would first be studied with the World Bank and might then be recommended to the legislature; this was a review path, not a promised formula change.

[02:57:44 · h2r5-turn-002592](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002592) · [02:57:56 · h2r5-turn-002594](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002594) · [02:59:16 · h2r5-turn-002623](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002623)

### LGSF city releases, RICE population mechanics, and the unanswered unused-appropriation question

Roman asked why 2026 Local Government Support Fund financial assistance appeared more heavily released to cities and whether unused appropriations averaging about PHP 300 billion a year from 2010 to 2022 could instead help municipalities. DBM said the city-release pattern primarily reflected the population-based RICE Program: the population shares of municipalities were given to provinces, while cities received a separate direct allocation; remaining shares went between provinces and their municipalities based on population. Roman returned to the unused-appropriation question. Within the audited boundary, DBM only sought clarification and no substantive answer was completed; the explanation beginning at h2r5-turn-002700 is post-boundary material and is excluded.

[03:01:03 · h2r5-turn-002656](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002656) · [03:01:54 · h2r5-turn-002675](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002675)

## Rep. Jose Manuel Tadeo "Chel" I. Diokno

### Civil-society participation guidelines

Diokno said civil-society observers had been recognized and able to participate in the preceding budget process, but that the current cycle still had no clear CSO policy, and asked the Chair for guidelines. Chair Albert Garcia, rather than DBM, said a coordination meeting with civil society and CPPRD was scheduled for the next day to finalize guidelines for active CSO participation in that year's budget process. The exchange records a planned finalization, not completed guidelines.

[03:04:24 · h2r5-turn-002715](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002715) · [03:05:01 · h2r5-turn-002726](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002726)

### People-centred agencies, utilization, and program-specific explanations

Diokno contrasted the proposed budget's stated 6-percent increase with lower funding he identified for agencies investing directly in people: DepEd from PHP 961.3 billion to PHP 916.7 billion; SUCs from PHP 137.9 billion to PHP 134.5 billion; CHED from PHP 47.5 billion to PHP 34.6 billion; and TESDA from PHP 26 billion to PHP 20.8 billion. He also said DOH, PhilHealth and DSWD had fallen. DBM said it evaluated each agency's absorptive capacity and implementation of current programs. It attributed the PHP 39.346-billion DepEd decrease to low or ongoing school-building utilization while considering PPP-funded school buildings; said the DOH health-facilities fund had not yet been awarded and was still being procured; and said MAIP was returned to NEP level because Expanded Zero Balance Billing was meant to cover assistance through PhilHealth. It also cited non-recurring SUC capital spending and almost PHP 10 billion in free-higher-education arrears settled outside the GAA as relevant context.

[03:05:37 · h2r5-turn-002737](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002737) · [03:06:59 · h2r5-turn-002766](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002766)

### DPWH exception and no single reduction policy

Diokno asked why DPWH received a PHP 112-billion increase despite what he understood to be similar absorptive-capacity and underutilization problems, as well as corruption concerns. DBM said the increase covered a different, non-recurring set of implementation-ready projects expected to have a greater multiplier effect under Build Better More, while an agency's capacity to absorb and implement added programs, funds and infrastructure remained part of evaluation. When he asked whether reductions across DepEd, CHED, SUCs, TESDA, DOH, PhilHealth and DSWD reflected a policy rationale, DBM said there was no single or unilateral rule: each program was evaluated. It identified the Supreme Court-ordered, one-time PHP 60-billion return to PhilHealth in the 2026 GAA, DA farm-to-market-road implementation, and DSWD's AICS provision being returned to NEP level as program-specific considerations.

[03:09:14 · h2r5-turn-002796](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002796) · [03:09:39 · h2r5-turn-002800](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002800) · [03:10:57 · h2r5-turn-002821](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002821)

### Education-sector share and requested breakdown

Diokno challenged DBM's education-sector figure of 3.99 percent of GDP against his estimate of about 3.3 percent and asked what it counted. DBM said the tagged sector budget included national-government education budgets, education from the BARMM block grant, the education-attributable share of LGU national tax allotments, and retained SUC internally generated funds. When Diokno raised the PNP Academy, Philippine Military Academy and Local Government Academy, DBM expressly said the PMA and Local Government Academy were not included for 2027 and said it counted agencies directly connected to basic and higher education, including education implemented by LGUs; it did not expressly settle the PNP Academy. Diokno maintained that the calculation went beyond core education agencies. DBM committed to provide the detailed list and explained that school-based-feeding components could be lodged outside DepEd, including at the National Dairy Authority and Philippine Carabao Center.

[03:12:17 · h2r5-turn-002835](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002835) · [03:12:59 · h2r5-turn-002848](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002848)

### Closing reprioritization appeal

Diokno closed by urging the committee to review and reprioritize funding for schools, state universities, health services and social protection, describing investment in people, students, workers, families and communities as the foundation of a stronger and more prosperous country. No further agency answer followed before the round closed.

[03:15:20 · h2r5-turn-002875](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002875)

## Rep. Javier Miguel Lopez Benitez

### Creative-economy scale and the unaddressed cultural-agency funding cuts

Benitez cited PSA figures putting the 2025 creative economy at PHP 2.12 trillion, or 7.6 percent of GDP, supporting 8.71 million jobs or 17.8 percent of Filipino workers, after growth from PHP 1.98 trillion the year before. Against that scale, he said the 2027 NEP reduced funding for CCP, the Film Development Council, NCCA, the National Book Development Board and the Design Center; he also said Malikhaing Pinoy had moved from PHP 360 million to PHP 100 million, then PHP 50 million, and then had no line item. He put the agencies he tracked at PHP 2.24 billion, roughly three hundredths of one percent of the PHP 7.2-trillion budget. No official answered those individual NEP-reduction claims before he made his closing case that creative industries warrant investment. Chair Garcia's adjacent statement that the committee would monitor creation of the fund is exit context, not a further agency commitment in this exchange.

[03:16:19 · h2r5-turn-002896](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002896)

### Digital-services VAT share and the still-unfinalized Creative Industry Development Fund arrangement

Benitez cited Republic Act No. 12023's five-year allocation of 5 percent of incremental VAT revenue from digital service providers for creative industries under Republic Act No. 11904. He read a March 2, 2026 BIR certification stating that August-to-December 2025 non-resident digital-service-provider business-to-consumer VAT collections were PHP 6.361 billion and 85 centavos, with a PHP 318,082,096.74 creative-industries share, and asked DOF to validate it and state running collections including 2026. DOF first asked for the number again and said it did not have a document with that exact figure, then confirmed PHP 318 million; its reference to 5 percent of PHP 9.4 billion did not supply a complete dated running-collections answer. Benitez then asked whether the special account in the general fund had been created and whether the statutory share would flow automatically or need annual appropriation. DBM said it was working with DTI on the UACS code so the SAGF could be properly established, and later said it would confer with DOF on booking and finalize the arrangement with the Bureau of the Treasury and DOF. It did not say the fund had already been created, booked, released or automatically appropriated.

[03:17:59 · h2r5-turn-002922](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002922) · [03:20:02 · h2r5-turn-002946](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002946) · [03:22:09 · h2r5-turn-002974](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-002974)

### Circular-economy bill, DEPDev chairmanship conditions, and staffing support

Benitez linked plastic waste and clogged pumps to flooding, citing 526 and 600 tons of garbage collected over five days, a World Bank estimate of up to US$890 million in annual lost material value, and a 28-percent recycling rate for key plastics. He offered those figures as grounds for a Circular Economy Bill and asked that DEPDev, rather than DENR, chair a proposed interagency council because he framed circular economy as a growth, resource-productivity and industrial-competitiveness strategy. Balisacan said DEPDev could consider chairmanship if the function were mainstreamed in its mandate and clearly implicated development planning and monitoring; he cited added duties without complementary manpower or structure, and said it would be feasible if the legislation supplied support staff. Benitez said the bill would synthesize related laws and include council funding and plantilla positions. That was a bill-design proposal, not a present DEPDev funding or chairmanship commitment.

[06:34:31 · h2r5-turn-005538](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005538) · [06:37:22 · h2r5-turn-005582](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005582)

## Rep. Leila M. de Lima

### Unprogrammed appropriations, constitutional petitions, and proposed uses

De Lima asked why the Executive continued to include unprogrammed appropriations in the annual NEP despite four consolidated Supreme Court petitions challenging their constitutionality, and stated her position that the mechanism should be removed rather than merely reduced. She identified PHP 57 billion for PDIC fund-balance restoration, PHP 42.553 billion for foreign-assisted projects and PHP 3.6 billion for PPP risk management in the 2027 NEP. DBM said the included projects remained contingent on proposed NEP triggers, that the Executive was cognizant of the petitions, and that proposed uses had been limited to necessities for 2027: four categories including projects not yet approved by the ED Council, PPP risk-management contingencies and partial PDIC restoration.

[03:25:11 · h2r5-turn-003011](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003011) · [03:26:15 · h2r5-turn-003027](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003027)

### PDIC standby and the court-decision contingency

De Lima questioned why the PHP 57-billion PDIC restoration was unprogrammed when its purpose and amount were known, and asked the Executive's contingency if the Court invalidated or narrowed the UA mechanism after the 2027 GAA was enacted. DBM said the PDIC item was only a standby in case a directive required restoration, unlike PhilHealth, which it said already had a Supreme Court directive. It said the Executive would comply with whatever decision the Court made on the pending UA case; it did not say PDIC restoration was already due or that an alternative funding pathway had been adopted.

[03:28:27 · h2r5-turn-003056](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003056) · [03:30:20 · h2r5-turn-003093](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003093) · [03:32:26 · h2r5-turn-003117](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003117)

### Foreign-assisted-project loan status, counterparts, and railway delays

De Lima asked which foreign-assisted projects had perfected loan agreements and why identified projects were not directly placed in implementing-agency budgets. DBM said the UA loan-proceeds component covered projects still under ICC or ED Council assessment or pending loan signing; for identified projects, the GOP counterpart was already in agency program budgets so preliminary and design work could begin. It said signed, ongoing foreign-assisted projects were programmed, while uncertain timing of unsigned agreements supported UA treatment. DBM then cited two DOTr railway projects whose timely implementation was affected by reduced GAA loan proceeds and GOP counterpart funding, especially because a lower counterpart delayed necessary right-of-way acquisition. It said the delays helped explain the proposed level for NSCR and MMSP and a target of partial NSCR North-segment operability by end-2027.

[03:28:53 · h2r5-turn-003063](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003063) · [03:30:55 · h2r5-turn-003098](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003098) · [03:34:03 · h2r5-turn-003136](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003136)

### NTA, LGSF additions, and lower-income LGU need

De Lima noted that the statutory NTA rose from PHP 1.19 trillion in the 2026 GAA to PHP 1.32 trillion in the 2027 NEP, then questioned the additional PHP 58.5 billion LGSF: PHP 9.7 billion for NTF-ELCAC, PHP 37.5 billion for FALGU and PHP 10.3 billion for the Growth Equity Fund. She challenged the fiscal-risk-statement premise that LGUs had excess funds. DBM said possible surpluses could exist for some higher-income LGUs but rejected that conclusion in general: 4th- and 5th-class municipalities still lacked sufficient NTA for devolved functions. It described the Growth Equity Fund as a Mandanas-Garcia implementing-EO mechanism and said lower-income LGUs continued to require national assistance, including through a different transition treatment.

[03:35:27 · h2r5-turn-003155](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003155) · [03:37:04 · h2r5-turn-003181](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003181) · [03:38:22 · h2r5-turn-003199](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003199)

## Rep. Mark O. Cojuangco

### Advance right-of-way acquisition and DPWH priorities

Cojuangco asked whether a district could concentrate funding on right-of-way acquisition for intended projects in succeeding years, warning that rising real-estate values could eventually make a project unviable. DBM said DPWH and DOTR receive annual right-of-way appropriations for project preparation, including site development, feasibility studies and intended projects; it acknowledged that past civil works sometimes proceeded without right-of-way and were therefore not implementable. After Cojuangco clarified that he meant a DPWH right-of-way item for a district even without a civil-works component, DBM said the right-of-way budget is a lump sum and DPWH sets priorities. It added that right-of-way funds can be reduced from the proposed NEP level to the enacted GAA and said it proposes higher annual levels. The exchange supports a general preference for prepared right-of-way and larger allocations, not a dedicated advance-purchase entitlement for an individual district.

[03:39:43 · h2r5-turn-003222](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003222) · [03:40:38 · h2r5-turn-003243](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003243) · [03:43:30 · h2r5-turn-003282](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003282)

### Open space and land for barangay facilities

Cojuangco asked whether DOF and DBM would allow funding for barangay open spaces, noting that appropriations for multipurpose buildings, gymnasiums, schoolhouses and barangay halls can leave no place to build them. DBM answered that national assistance to barangays and LGUs is provided through infrastructure projects, but local autonomy constrains land-acquisition support and the national government does not fund land acquisition for LGU use. No policy change, land-acquisition funding commitment, or exception followed in this exchange.

[03:40:20 · h2r5-turn-003236](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003236) · [03:45:09 · h2r5-turn-003300-split-2](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003300-split-2)

### Power generation as infrastructure and an economic enabler

Cojuangco asked whether electricity generation is infrastructure and whether generating capacity has among the highest multiplier effects because electricity enables economic activity. DEPDev answered that generation is infrastructure, while noting that the existing system is largely privately financed. Cojuangco replied that legislation could change that framework. On the multiplier question, DEPDev said high electricity cost is among the most binding constraints on growth and industrialization and that investment which reduces it would be expected to have high economy-wide multiplier effects.

[03:45:48 · h2r5-turn-003303](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003303) · [03:46:08 · h2r5-turn-003306](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003306) · [03:46:56 · h2r5-turn-003320](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003320)

### Generating capacity, EPIRA, and government-ownership proposal

Cojuangco said the Philippines had once been ahead of Vietnam in total generating capacity, but asserted that Vietnam then had more than three times Philippine capacity—68,000 megawatts against about 22,000 megawatts in the Philippines. He characterized this as an effect of EPIRA, said EPIRA had failed the Philippines from its conception, and proposed that future legislation consider 100-percent government ownership of generating capacity, especially nuclear capacity. He announced he was available to discuss the proposal with the executive. No official gave a substantive in-round answer before the round ended; the EPIRA assessment and ownership proposal remain Cojuangco's position, not an adopted policy or government commitment.

[03:47:30 · h2r5-turn-003330](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003330)

## Rep. Roberto Nazal

### NBC 595 readiness conditions and the project-specific FISARO review

Nazal asked whether the President's 2025 veto message itself contained NBC 595's added release conditions for congressional amendments. DBM said the message made releases subject to usual DBM rules and regulations, and that NBC 595 implemented it; DBM characterized its documents as ordinary proof that projects not vetted during NEP preparation but included in the final GAA were ready for implementation. It did not separately say every NBC condition appeared verbatim in the veto message. Nazal also asked why 2026 NEP line items retained in the GAA could require separate FISARO release. DBM said changed coordinates, titles, barangays or municipalities required renewed vetting; increased allocations and special-provision compliance could also lead to FISARO treatment. DBM committed to submit a list giving the specific classification reason for each project.

[03:51:27 · h2r5-turn-003406](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003406) · [03:52:06 · h2r5-turn-003414](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003414) · [03:53:43 · h2r5-turn-003436](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003436)

### SARO and NCA authority, DPWH's SAA withholding, and cash availability

Nazal asked whether a department needed an NCA before issuing a SARO or awarding a project. DBM described SARO as allotment and obligational authority, NCA as disbursement authority, and said the prerequisite for award was obligational authority through SARO or EGARO as applicable; departmental internal guidelines could govern its own SARO or sub-allotment process. Nazal then reported DPWH projects that had been bid out but were awaiting award because Central Office had not issued an SAA. DBM said SARO was the last obligational authority and its records showed the agency had authority to obligate, but deferred the internal SAA decision and any reason for withholding it to DPWH. It said cash availability should not obstruct procurement or obligation because cash is released and programmed against actual need or infrastructure progress billings.

[03:56:10 · h2r5-turn-003475](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003475) · [03:56:17 · h2r5-turn-003476](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003476) · [03:58:22 · h2r5-turn-003502](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003502)

### DBM monitoring, agency control of implementation, and the unproven savings concern

Nazal asked whether DBM's responsibility ended after SARO issuance and whether it could compel a project to proceed once NBC documentation was complete. DBM said agencies submit quarterly financial-accountability reports and that mid-year and year-end reviews produce aggregate findings, but said project implementation and final per-project determination remain with the technical implementing agency; DBM checks award and obligation when an agency asks for cash. It did not commit to compel DPWH to issue an SAA or proceed with a particular project. DBM confirmed that FY2025 capital-outlay allotments remained valid for obligation through end-2026, subject to agency project-level determination. Nazal warned that an SAA withheld until funds were unobligated could create apparent savings for augmentation and requested DBM documents on FY2025 and FY2026 FISARO projects. That manufactured-savings concern remained his allegation, not a DBM finding within the exchange.

[04:01:22 · h2r5-turn-003544](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003544) · [04:01:31 · h2r5-turn-003546](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003546) · [04:04:08 · h2r5-turn-003587](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003587)

## Deputy Speaker Mercedes K. Alvarez

### NIR offices, staffing, and prioritization

Alvarez asked why NIR offices, vehicles and plantilla positions remained at differing approval stages despite the law creating the region. DBM said it prioritized agency proposals for offices, rent and equipment, reported that NIR's 2027 regional allocation was higher than other regions', and said staffing depended on agency-specific proposals and available miscellaneous personnel-benefits funding. As of July 28, 2026, it reported 30 agencies with approved NIR offices and plantilla positions, with eight more agency requests under evaluation; some required a UACS code so the regional office could have NEP personality.

[04:08:24 · h2r5-turn-003663](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003663) · [04:09:51 · h2r5-turn-003680](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003680) · [04:11:27 · h2r5-turn-003698](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003698)

### Central-office endorsements, Treasury review, and BLGF interim operations

Alvarez asked whether NIR office and staffing delays arose in the region or at central offices, citing BLGF and Treasury proposals. DBM said each request must be endorsed by the agency head from the central office. Secretary Go said BLGF's reported non-submission was new to him and committed to speak with BLGF the next day. Treasurer Almanza said BTR had provincial offices in NIR despite no regional office and would review regional-office creation because reorganization affected the whole bureau budget; she gave no completion date. BLGF Executive Director Agcaoili said an interim NIR head had been designated concurrently from Region 6, that BLGF was already providing vehicles, and that it had proposed funding for NIR establishment. A Dumaguete satellite office was being considered because the selected regional-office location in Occidental was far from Oriental and Siquijor. She said BLGF hoped its regional office would normalize the next year after positions were filled, not that it was already fully operational.

[04:12:22 · h2r5-turn-003712](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003712) · [04:12:53 · h2r5-turn-003714](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003714) · [04:16:23 · h2r5-turn-003760](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003760)

### Phased rollout and one-week information commitment

After BLGF described a phased rollout, Alvarez requested year-by-year agency budgets from 2024 to proposed 2027, covering personnel services, MOOE, capital outlay, and funded and unfunded positions, plus DBM's definite NIR operations timeline. DBM agreed to comply and requested one week to collate and submit the information through the Committee on Appropriations. Chair Garcia treated this as a one-week guarantee, so the requested agency-level information was committed rather than supplied during the exchange.

[04:18:56 · h2r5-turn-003799](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003799) · [04:19:14 · h2r5-turn-003804](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003804) · [04:20:08 · h2r5-turn-003811](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003811)

## Rep. Allan U. Ty

### PDIC remittance and limits of DOF knowledge

Ty examined the PHP 107.23-billion PDIC fund-balance remittance to the Bureau of the Treasury under the 2024 GAA special provision. DOF said it requested the remittance in implementing that provision and that approval was by the PDIC Board, not the DOF Board. Secretary Go could not say whether the PDIC vote was unanimous because he was not Secretary at the time; he said the answer would have to be found. Based on what he had been informed, Go described the amount as from the unrestricted portion and excess over deposit-insurance contingencies, not GOCC dividends. This was a DOF account with stated knowledge limits, not an independently established PDIC-board record.

[04:22:00 · h2r5-turn-003833](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003833) · [04:22:22 · h2r5-turn-003842](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003842) · [04:23:32 · h2r5-turn-003864](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003864)

### Unprogrammed-appropriation levels and benchmarks

Ty asked how much of the 2027 budget was unprogrammed appropriations and sought 2022-2026 GAA-level comparisons. DBM put the 2027 NEP level at 1.56 percent of the total expenditure program and gave 5.01 percent for 2022, 15.32 percent for 2023, 12.68 percent for 2024, 5.74 percent for 2025 and 2.22 percent for 2026 after vetoed portions. DBM said no international benchmark exists because it depends on the contingency definition, but versions of the Philippine Budgeting Code refer to a 2- or 3-percent maximum; that was code-version guidance, not an international technical ceiling.

[04:26:27 · h2r5-turn-003906](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003906) · [04:26:37 · h2r5-turn-003909](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003909) · [04:28:52 · h2r5-turn-003930](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003930)

### PDIC restoration trigger and conditional institutional views

Ty asked why the full PHP 107.23 billion was not restored. DBM said full restoration depended on the excess-revenue trigger for sourcing and that a Supreme Court order could permit restoration in at least two tranches. The BSP Governor said PDIC would have to be consulted despite the BSP chairmanship of its Board. Go said DBM was best placed to assess fiscal space and conditionally said that if PHP 57 billion was DBM's number, it was what could be afforded that year; he hoped PDIC could be fully restored in a following year if needed. The exchange yielded neither settled PDIC concurrence nor a binding timetable.

[04:30:02 · h2r5-turn-003947](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003947) · [04:30:26 · h2r5-turn-003951](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003951) · [04:31:36 · h2r5-turn-003962](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003962)

### Direct DBM branch-budget breakdown

Ty asked DBM to break out executive, legislative and judiciary budgets and their shares of total expenditure. DBM gave Congress—Senate and House together—a proposed NEP budget of PHP 27.892 billion and the entire judiciary PHP 86.270 billion, consistent with the Judicial Fiscal Autonomy Act. In the ensuing calculation, DBM put Congress at 0.39 percent and the judiciary at about 0.36 percent, then stated 1.19 percent without identifying the calculation basis; the exchange did not resolve that discrepancy. It described the remainder as executive-branch spending, including interest and other automatic appropriations, but excepted constitutional commissions and did not state a separate executive peso total.

[04:33:26 · h2r5-turn-003995](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-003995) · [04:34:31 · h2r5-turn-004004](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004004) · [04:35:42 · h2r5-turn-004022](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004022)

### Disbursement programs and accounts-payable submission

Ty asked for approved 2026 and proposed 2027 disbursement programs. DBM gave PHP 6.465 trillion for the latest DBCC-approved 2026 program and PHP 6.9 trillion proposed for 2027. It did not verify Ty's later displayed PHP 1.190-billion 2026 accounts-payable figure or provide the requested breakdown, saying payables were moving figures requiring validation. DBM committed to submit the information to the Committee on Appropriations, including the accounts-payable portion of the projected 2027 program.

[04:36:52 · h2r5-turn-004039](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004039) · [04:37:23 · h2r5-turn-004043](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004043) · [04:38:24 · h2r5-turn-004052](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004052)

### LGSF appropriations, carryover, and releases

Ty asked for LGSF totals across 2025-2027. DBM gave PHP 57.872 billion for 2026, PHP 58.532 billion for 2027 and retrieved a PHP 22.999-billion 2025 GAA level. It confirmed PHP 10.936 billion in 2025 unreleased appropriations remained valid into 2026; Ty calculated roughly PHP 68.8 billion total available, which DBM confirmed. DBM then reported PHP 50.9 billion plus PHP 3.7 billion in continuing releases—almost PHP 54 billion—as of July 31 and estimated a little over PHP 7 billion remained available or unreleased after noting early-August releases.

[06:05:08 · h2r5-turn-005218](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005218) · [06:07:25 · h2r5-turn-005247](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005247) · [06:08:22 · h2r5-turn-005264](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005264)

### Unreleased appropriations, unobligated allotments, and NBC coverage

Ty asked DBM to distinguish unused funds. DBM said unreleased appropriations were GAA-authorized appropriations without released obligation authority, whereas unobligated allotments had been released but not obligated; savings require released allotments and a PAP determined abandoned, completed or discontinued under the relevant provisions and jurisprudence. Ty then pressed DBM to separate issuance date from fiscal coverage. DBM confirmed NBC 603, issued in 2026, covered FY2025 continuing appropriations' released allotments available as savings, while NBC 602 covered FY2026 GAA released allotments.

[06:09:45 · h2r5-turn-005278](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005278) · [06:09:53 · h2r5-turn-005281](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005281) · [06:12:49 · h2r5-turn-005309](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005309)

### FY2025 continuing and FY2026 savings for UPLIFT

Ty separated FY2025 continuing savings from FY2026 outcomes. DBM confirmed PHP 12.287 billion initially declared as FY2025 GAA savings under NBC 603, of which PHP 11.287119 billion went to DSWD and PHP 1 billion to DMW/OWWA for UPLIFT. For FY2026, it reported PHP 4.087801 billion initial GAA savings, with PHP 3 billion released to DMW-OSEC and PHP 1.087 billion for DSWD; it also identified PHP 2 billion earmarked for DA and described the separate FY2026 combined amount as about PHP 6.1 billion.

[06:14:43 · h2r5-turn-005335](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005335) · [06:17:09 · h2r5-turn-005352](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005352) · [06:18:14 · h2r5-turn-005363](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005363)

## Rep. Atty. Miro S. Quimbo

### Disbursement shortfalls, departmental detail, and the cost of unspent appropriations

Quimbo asked for a year-on-year measure of underspending and departmental detail. DBM said actual disbursement against the program was the closest measure and committed to submit full-year 2025 and mid-2026 actual disbursement by department. It gave a PHP 6.082-trillion 2025 program against PHP 6.030 trillion actual spending, about PHP 52 billion short, without supplying a separately defined formal underspending statistic. For mid-2026, DBM put the program at PHP 3.176 trillion and actual disbursement at about PHP 3.175 trillion, roughly PHP 1 billion short, and again promised departmental data. DBM agreed generally that failure to spend appropriations constrains economic activity and growth, while funded projects can displace other projects that are not funded.

[04:40:14 · h2r5-turn-004086](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004086) · [04:40:27 · h2r5-turn-004090](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004090) · [04:42:09 · h2r5-turn-004110](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004110)

### Local permits, CDC obstruction, and the unresolved pre-budget remedy

Quimbo said local failures to issue building, location-plan or demolition permits could block national projects and asked for a remedy. DBM said permits were an implementation-stage issue after allotment rather than a precondition to release, and that 2027 budget preparation required agencies to manifest early coordination with localities and necessary permits to avoid a repeat. Quimbo then pressed for recourse when a CDC does not agenda or approve a project for political reasons before budgeting. DBM cited Local Government Code coordination and, for an enacted national project, suggested calling the Anti-Red Tape Authority; Quimbo said that avenue had already been tried. DBM later pointed to DILG supervision for an enacted project, but acknowledged that other pre-budget local-operational recourse should be referred to DILG. It committed to check and sit down with DILG on particular actions, leaving a limited follow-up path rather than a definitive remedy for the pre-budget CDC obstacle.

[04:44:19 · h2r5-turn-004144](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004144) · [04:44:46 · h2r5-turn-004152](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004152) · [04:50:26 · h2r5-turn-004218](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004218)

## Rep. Renee Louise M. Co

### Free-higher-education funding formula, arrears, and appeals

Co welcomed the PHP 9.75-billion release for the free-higher-education deficiency but recalled the PHP 12-billion amount promised in earlier deliberations. She said Republic Act No. 10931 calls for projected enrollment by academic year, while the post-2022 calculation had reportedly used actual enrollment from the preceding academic year and created a deficiency. DBM said the 2027 calculation uses average actual enrollment together with growth over the previous three years, rather than only the preceding year's actual enrollment, and that it was coordinating with CHED and UniFAST on a normative formula for SUCs. It did not have the latest information on remaining 2025–2026 deficiencies and said it would obtain it from CHED and UniFAST so Congress could address any gap. In a later exchange, DBM described the three-year growth average as a proxy for the 2027 increase, said it would calculate the variance with CHED and UniFAST, and said the nearly PHP 10-billion release included a small CHED appeals allowance; it did not claim exact future enrollment.

[04:51:33 · h2r5-turn-004239](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004239) · [04:53:00 · h2r5-turn-004250](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004250) · [06:19:52 · h2r5-turn-005381](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005381)

### SUC circular coverage and extension-campus operations

Co relayed SUCs' request not to lose operating funds under the circulars, saying their budgets were already insufficient. DBM confirmed receipt of the request to exempt SUCs from NBC 906, 602 and 603, but said those circulars contain no exemption. It stressed that the coverage was 20 percent of unobligated MOOE, not 20 percent of all MOOE, because savings are not calculated from already obligated allotments. Co also said extension campuses had not received requested MOOE and were drawing from main-campus operations. DBM said it was maintaining an inventory of recent legislation institutionalizing satellite campuses and annexes for programming while recognizing available-resource limits, and committed to sit with Co to strategize over satellite and extension-campus funding requirements.

[04:56:18 · h2r5-turn-004277](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004277) · [04:56:35 · h2r5-turn-004278](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004278)

### 2027 confidential and intelligence fund coverage

Co asked which agencies were legally authorized to have confidential or intelligence funds in 2027. DBM said the 2027 NEP reverted to the same agencies as the 2026 NEP, at levels lower than the 2026 GAA, and characterized that as the legally authorized and historically funded list. It gave the confidential-fund list and limited intelligence funds to the Office of the President, PNP, DND-OSEC, AFP, PCG and NICA; it said the common mandate was surveillance, counterintelligence or investigation. DBM said a new request would be evaluated against that mandate. It confirmed that DepEd and the Office of the Vice President were absent from the 2027 list, while saying both had confidential funds in 2023.

[04:58:56 · h2r5-turn-004299](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004299) · [04:59:18 · h2r5-turn-004301](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004301)

### Mandate screening, limited visibility, and post-disbursement audit

Co asked whether DBM could review the physical and financial plans attached to confidential-expense requests and refuse requests outside an agency's mandate. DBM said the initial test is whether the agency has a surveillance or counter-surveillance mandate. It reviews physical and financial plans, but said its visibility into detailed uses is limited because the details are confidential; COA, rather than DBM, audits actual use after disbursement. Co urged more upstream accountability, noting the risk of discovering anomalies only after spending and later audit.

[05:03:54 · h2r5-turn-004372](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004372) · [05:04:54 · h2r5-turn-004381](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004381)

### Reclassification of non-confidential requests and the Office of the President question

Co said the Office of the President's confidential expenses had risen from PHP 500 million in 2016 to PHP 2.5 billion in 2017 and asked whether DBM knew the detailed allocation. DBM did not identify that historic allocation. It said it would continue evaluating requests and that, among 2027 confidential-fund requests, some expenses found not confidential in nature would instead be included outside the confidential classification. For approved confidential and intelligence funds, DBM said it sees only overall programs or strategies, consistent with the joint circular on authorization and disbursement. That preserves some upstream screening but does not resolve the historic PHP 2.5-billion allocation question.

[05:06:07 · h2r5-turn-004391](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004391) · [05:07:18 · h2r5-turn-004401](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004401)

### LGU confidential funds and mandate limits

Co asked about rising LGU confidential funds and safeguards. DBM said allocations need peace-and-order-council and sanggunian approval; it reviews provincial and highly urbanized-city budgets, while other levels have other reviewers, and COA post-audits use against approved plans. DBM checks ceilings and documents locally. For national agencies it assesses mandate first and said increases or new civilian funds were practically not entertained without intelligence, counterintelligence or security mandates.

[06:22:01 · h2r5-turn-005402](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005402) · [06:22:51 · h2r5-turn-005407](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005407)

### Pax Silica benefits and unresolved costs

Co asked whether Pax Silica fit industrial strategy and raised reported US-draft, geopolitical, environmental, land, water, electricity and Indigenous-community concerns. DEPDev said it could support industrialization if it brought semiconductor, electronics or high-value manufacturing, but it remained evolving with no specific industries or companies identified; the test was Philippine development and interests. The site-specific and community concerns were not substantively resolved before her time expired.

[06:28:04 · h2r5-turn-005470](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005470) · [06:28:57 · h2r5-turn-005478](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005478)

## Rep. Antonio L. Tinio

### Civilian PERA funding and the contrast with military subsistence allowances

Tinio returned to a possible 2027 civilian personal economic relief allowance (PERA) increase and asked whether it was funded. DBM said the amount remained under study and hoped the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF) could be a source. It estimated that a PHP 1,000 monthly, 50-percent increase would require about PHP 24 billion annually, while cautioning that the MPBF also funds the performance-based bonus, executive vacancies and organizational staffing changes. Tinio contrasted this with the military and uniformed subsistence allowance increase from PHP 150 to PHP 350 a day. DBM said that adjusted allowance was fixed under the executive order, lodged in agency-specific budgets rather than the MPBF, and totalled about PHP 74 billion for 2027.

[05:08:42 · h2r5-turn-004423](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004423) · [05:09:10 · h2r5-turn-004433](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004433) · [05:12:51 · h2r5-turn-004485](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004485)

### Office of the President confidential expenses and the PAP classification dispute

Tinio questioned whether the Office of the President's PHP 4.56-billion confidential and intelligence expenses, which he said were 44.9 percent of its budget, met sound-governance principles. DBM said the Office's mandate made the provision appropriate for the NEP; it did not resolve Tinio's transparency objection. Tinio then argued that confidential and intelligence expenses should not be treated as a separate fund or line item. DBM said they are objects of expenditure tied to a program, activity or project and to the Office's mandate, and agreed that the PAP is the budget item while confidential or intelligence expense is the object of expenditure.

[05:13:54 · h2r5-turn-004501](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004501) · [05:15:33 · h2r5-turn-004523-split-2](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004523-split-2) · [05:16:20 · h2r5-turn-004536](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004536)

### Augmentation from savings and the promised written explanation

Tinio warned that treating confidential expenses as a stand-alone item could permit augmentation from savings. DBM said augmentation attaches to the PAP, not the confidential or intelligence expense itself, and remains subject to GAA general-provision requisites and approvals. When Tinio continued to dispute the rule, Chair Garcia asked for an expanded written explanation and DBM agreed to submit it. The exchange therefore recorded the DBM interpretation and a promised response, not agreement with Tinio's challenge.

[05:18:01 · h2r5-turn-004561](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004561) · [05:18:18 · h2r5-turn-004565](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004565) · [05:20:36 · h2r5-turn-004596-split-2](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-004596-split-2)

## Senior Deputy Speaker Ferdinand L. Hernandez

### System-loss VAT, administrative route, and ERC conditions

Hernandez argued that electricity lost before delivery is not consumption and consumers should not pay VAT on system loss passed through to them. He urged BIR rules rather than legislation and asked BIR and ERC to settle chargeable items. BIR said the charge is currently bundled into distributors' gross sales and therefore enters the VAT base; it distinguished clearly mandated pass-through charges and said system loss likewise would not be subject to VAT if it were not part of gross sales and were only a mandated pass-through charge. BIR said it was working with ERC, expected public consultation on an ERC regulation and would examine that regulation. DOF said a resolution was possible but conditions remained to be satisfied, not an immediate exemption.

[05:58:37 · h2r5-turn-005109](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005109) · [06:00:33 · h2r5-turn-005141](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005141) · [06:01:14 · h2r5-turn-005152](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005152)

### RPVARA postponement

Hernandez said he and the Ways and Means Chair filed a bill to suspend RPVARA, citing crisis, rising prices, insufficient data and inadequate consultation. Secretary Frederick Go took no independent suspension position; he said DOF would comply if Congress legislated postponement.

[06:03:27 · h2r5-turn-005192](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005192) · [06:04:14 · h2r5-turn-005208](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005208)

## Rep. Mikaela Angela B. Suansing

### 2026 revenue revision and consumption-tax shortfall

Suansing tested the 2026 revenue outlook. DOF said the 2026 BESF assumed PHP 4.983 trillion and the 2027 BESF revised 2026 projection was PHP 4.807 trillion, producing the roughly PHP 180-billion gap she identified. Adriano attributed the shortfall principally to tax revenue after macro assumptions changed for crises not present at the earlier NEP, with consumption taxes including VAT contributing about PHP 175 billion. These are revised projections, not final collections.

[06:42:45 · h2r5-turn-005650](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005650) · [06:43:31 · h2r5-turn-005654](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005654)

### 2027 nominal-growth tax assumptions

Suansing questioned PHP 1.75 trillion of 2027 domestic-goods-and-services taxes after the consumption-tax shortfall. DOF said the base was lower, with 2027 tax revenue about PHP 240 billion below the 2026 BESF and VAT about PHP 243 billion lower, but projected PHP 1.751 trillion on about 9-percent nominal GDP growth. DEPDev confirmed revenue forecasting is nominal while real growth was described as 5–6 percent. The increase is an assumption, not proof the earlier shortfall disappeared.

[06:49:24 · h2r5-turn-005709](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005709) · [06:49:58 · h2r5-turn-005712](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005712) · [06:53:14 · h2r5-turn-005749](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005749)

### Privatization target and receipt risk

Suansing contrasted a PHP 101.5-billion 2027 privatization target with PHP 2 billion actual in 2025 and PHP 38 billion in 2026, warning that a missed financing assumption creates cash-management problems. DOF cited Semirara, a PHP 36-billion CBK privatization payable the next year, and other prospective projects. Go acknowledged pressure from putting PHP 100 billion in privatization; the answer named components but did not guarantee completion or receipt.

[06:53:50 · h2r5-turn-005756](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005756) · [06:54:44 · h2r5-turn-005764](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005764)

### Crisis and El Niño flexibility

Suansing asked about fuel-crisis and possible El Niño contingencies. DBM said UPLIFT savings under NBC 602–603 were intended for DA to help farmers prepare, and later shocks could be addressed by frontloading or reprioritizing line items and deferring activities to protect vulnerable beneficiaries. This describes execution flexibility and anticipated funding, not a quantified all-risk reserve.

[06:58:03 · h2r5-turn-005789](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005789) · [06:58:48 · h2r5-turn-005795](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005795)

### Termination and suspension

After noting 12 hours of work after suspension, Suansing requested the motion to terminate the DBCC briefing. Garcia moved, it was seconded and carried; he then moved suspension and resumption on August 24, 2026 at 9 a.m. Suansing explained next-day hearings would move because of the weather work suspension; the motion was seconded and carried.

[07:01:58 · h2r5-turn-005814](https://tordecilla.github.io/budget-hearings-2026/records/2/#h2r5-turn-005814)