Manila 2nd district Rep. Rolando Valeriano believes that a variance report comparing the House-approved General Appropriations Bill (GAB) to the final, enacted 2025 budget will prove that the lower chamber had no role in the budget insertion allegations.

“Let the numbers speak. The variance report will show the truth—kung ano talaga ang pinasa ng Kamara, at ano ang nadagdag sa bicam (it will show what the House submitted, and what the bicam added),” Valeriano said.

He urged the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release the full report, and said it would provide transparency and accountability amid claims that billions in questionable projects were inserted by Congress.

This, even the Bicameral Conference Committee--which is composed of both House members and senators--finalized the reconciled version of the GAB or proposed budget between the two chambers.

“We welcome the release of the variance report because it will clear the House of any wrongdoing. It will show, line by line, the differences between what we in the House passed in plenary and what came out in the final enrolled bill,” a rather confident Valeriano said.

The Committee on Public Order and Safety chairman said the variance report is a crucial safeguard for both legislators and the public to scrutinize changes in the budget.

He echoed his House colleagues' sentiments over the unfair criticism that the chamber has been subjected to regarding the budget insertion issue.

“Hindi makatarungan na paratangan ang Kamara ng insertions kung wala namang ebidensyang magpapatunay na dito galing ang mga dagdag o realignment (It is unjust to accuse the House of insertions if there is no evidence proving that the additions or realignments came from it). The variance will expose where the changes really happened."

At the start of budget deliberations, DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman confirmed that the agency has copies of both the House GAB and the final General Appropriations Act (GAA), and that the two can be manually compared.

Pangandaman assured lawmakers the DBM will provide the requested documents.

Valeriano also called for the release of a complete list of all items tagged as For Later Release or FLR in the 2025 budget, as he noted that many of these were not part of the original National Expenditure Program (NEP) and should be validated by implementing agencies.

“The public deserves to know which items are real, which are implementable, and which ones were merely inserted along the way. Transparency is the best disinfectant,” he said.

The Manila legislator reiterated that the House supports public scrutiny of the entire budget process, including the bicam stage with the senators.

The NEP, which emanates from Malacañang, is the basis for the GAB.