Saying the documents is "riddled with questionable entries", political party leaders in the House of Representatives are recommending to Speaker Martin Romualdez the return of the P6.793-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) or proposed national budget for 2026 to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Deputy Speaker Antipolo 1st district Rep. Ronaldo "Ronnie" Puno, chairman of the National Unity Party (NUP), announced their unprecedented request to the House leadership in a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 3 following a meeting of the party leaders.

"We have decided as a group to recommend the return of the 2026 national budget to the DBM. Because we do not know how to deal with it," Puno said.

"We have to practically re-do the entire submission to us and we do not want to be suspected of any untoward action. We don't want it to appear that we are not accepting the rightful recommendations of the DBM, and on the other hand we do not want to be accused of, you know, replacing or amending by errata a huge portion of the [NEP] that they have submitted to us," he said.

Puno gave these remarks even as the House Committee on Appropriations was on its third week of deliberations on the 2026 NEP--the basis of next year's budget measure.

But the party leaders would rather toss it back to the DBM and start from scratch.

"So we have decided that in good conscience, we cannot begin deliberations on this national budget. And we owe if to all of you that...this is allocated properly, transparently, free of corruption, and we believe that at this point, the [NEP] submitted by the DBM falls short of that standard.

"So we're recommending to the Speaker that we return the 2026 NEP to the DBM and we are asking our members to refrain from any further participation in any other budget hearings until this matter is resolved," Puno said.

The Antipolo lawmaker said that "there has been enough and too much distrust already going around, especially with respect to the House of Representatives".

"And we do not want this thing to continue, so we toss it back to the DBM so that they can find a logical explanation and resolution to all of these things," he said.

Puno said they informed Romualdez about the party leaders' decision before the presser. They have yet to receive a response.

"We actually informed him already that this was our recommendation. Hindi pa kami sinasagot (He hasn't answered us yet), that is why ang sinabi namin sa party members namin (we told our party members), until we get a response to our request, to our recommendation, huwag na muna kami mag-attend dito sa budget hearings (let us refrain from attending these budget hearings in meantime)."

There has been lingering frustration among the solons toward the DBM especially after discrepancies in the allocations for specific projects in their districts were uncovered in the 2026 NEP. "We in the House were the first to discover these things," Puno said.

"We do not believe that we should fix what other people caused. We are not the ones that should fix the problems that have begun in other places," said the deputy speaker.

"The departments are pointing fingers at the DBM, the DBM is pointing fingers at the other departments; we feel they should settle their disputes first, come up with the correct budget formulations before they send them to us so that we can, you know, reasonably proceed," he added.

Puno said Nueva Ecija 1st district Rep. Mikaela Angela "Mika" Suansing, chairperson of the appropriations committee, has also been notified of the party leaders' request.

Joining Puno in the presser were fellow Deputy Speakers Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin (representing Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats), and Misamis Oriental 2nd district Rep. Bambi Emano (Nacionalista Party); Quezon 1st district Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga (Nationalist People’s Coalition), Palawan 2nd Rep. Jose Alvarez (NPC), Manila 2nd district Rep. Rolando Valeriano (NUP), and Romblon lone district Rep. Eleandro Jesus “Budoy” Madrona (NP).

Romualdez is the president of Lakas-CMD. He received the 2026 NEP from DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman at the Housec of Representatives last Aug. 13, and the budget deliberations were launched five days later.

House members have been walking on eggshells on the budget issue ever since the passage of 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) was marred by the "insertions" to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget.

Puno has been vocal in defending the House from allegations that these tweaks to the annual outlay occurred at their level; he says it was during the Bicameral Conference Committee hearings with the senators that these changes took place.

Irregularities 

Among the irregularities identified by the party leaders were:

• Flood-control projects with identical amounts, totaling tens of billions of pesos, suggesting templated or copy-paste budgeting;

• Double appropriations and line items funding projects already completed;

• Oversized lump-sum “nationwide” allocations under DPWH that weaken transparency and hinder proper scrutiny;

• Reports of unsolicited proposals for billions worth of firearms under the Department of the Interior and Local Government/ Philippine National Police (DILG/PNP,) opening the door to insertions outside the President’s original submission; and

• Reports of “allocation-for-sale” schemes in the Department of Agriculture (DA’s) budget for farm-to-market roads.

Puno also shared the opinion of the House legal team, which said that their request to return the suppsoedly faulty NEP was justified.

"In light of the admissions publicly made by the department secretaries that there are erroneous entries in the NEP transmitted to the House of Representatives, the House will be justified in returning the same to the DBM so that it can effect corrections, so that the House can deliberate on the budget that actually reflects the proposal, intent, and desire of the executive," he quoted the legal team as saying.

Pending this "return to sender" request, Garin said it was still possible for the House to pass the budget within the year, especially if the solons forego their month-long legislative recess.

“We can forego of that para sa bayan. Mas masakit ’yong pipilitin natin ’yong isang budget himayin, kasi ngayon ang nangyayari, we cannot totally exercise our oversight powers kasi sa DPWH na lang andaming singit. At ’yong singit na ito, walang umaamin kung kanino nanggaling,” she said.

(We can forego of that for the sake of the nation. What’s more painful is forcing ourselves to dissect a budget, because right now, we can’t fully exercise our oversight powers since just in the DPWH alone, there are so many insertions. And these insertions, no one is admitting where they came from.)

Congress' legislative break will run from Oct. 10 to Nov. 11.

On July 28, in his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA), an irate President Marcos said that he wouldn't hesitate signing a reenacted budget if the NEP gets too mangled.

Garin says lawmakers have been forced to double their work just to clean up the "trash" that was placed in budget--the most important measure that Congress passes every year.

“Actually ang pinakamalaking problema ngayon, nagdodoble ang trabaho ng Kongreso kasi hinahanap mo ‘yung mga basurang naipasok sa budget. Eh kung sana maituro na ito ng DBM, mas magiging mabilis ang trabaho ng lahat,” she said.

(Actually, the biggest problem now is that Congress is doing double the work because we’re trying to track down the garbage that was inserted into the budget. If only the DBM had flagged these earlier, everyone’s work would be much faster.)

She also cited troubling reports that DBM failed to check agency submissions before forwarding them to Congress.

“Kagaya ng DPWH, pinasa daw sa DBM, ang DBM dinaanan lang, hindi na nila tsinek. If that is the case, it’s very troubling. Kasi paano kung meron kaming hindi nakita? Siyempre ang dagok nito kay Pangulong Bongbong Marcos,” Garin said.

(Just like with the DPWH, they say it was passed to the DBM, and the DBM just let it through without checking. If that is the case, it’s very troubling. Because what if there’s something we missed? Of course, the blowback from this will land on President Bongbong Marcos.)