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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 2026 budget: Senate to remove P42B of 'ayuda' from unprogrammed items

2026 budget: Senate to remove P42B of 'ayuda' from unprogrammed items

Published Oct 28, 2025 02:48 pm

At A Glance

  • The Senate will be uncompromising in removing some P42-billion in appropriations for "ayuda" or social assistance programs from the unprogrammed appropriations in the proposed 2026 budget bill, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo "Ping" Lacson said on Tuesday, October 28.

The Senate will be uncompromising in removing some P42-billion in appropriations for “ayuda” or social assistance programs from the unprogrammed appropriations in the proposed 2026 budget bill, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said on Tuesday, October 28.

Lacson said the Senate plans to keep the unprogrammed appropriations for foreign-assisted projects only. 

“The House (of Representatives) left some P42 billion in the unprogrammed appropriations for ayuda, and we will remove it,” Lacson said in Filipino in an interview on One News. 

“We expect a long discussion in the bicameral conference committee but we senators agreed that ayuda funds cannot be in the unprogrammed appropriations. They should be in the regular budget,” he said. 

Lacson saiid he is taking this stand along with most members of the Senate Majority Bloc, including Senate President Vicente Sotto III, and Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

Furthermore, he commended Gatchalian for handling the committee hearings on the budget very well.

“He did his homework. His scrutiny exposed anomalies, questionable items and red flags. I take my hat off to him,” he said of Gatchalian.

On Monday, October 27, Gatchalian pushed for a highly detailed line items in the proposed 2026 national budget, to ensure that a high level of granularity would remove any room for discretion that could potentially become an opportunity for corruption.

“Let's take this as a wake-up call to reform our budget nomenclature, process, and implementation," said Gatchalian, during the continuation of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget hearing.

The senator is referring to proposed projects such as farm-to-market roads (FMR) that do not have specific details, such as station number, coordinates, and approximate length, to distinguish them from other infrastructure projects.

Gatchalian pointed out that a proposed road project for 2026 bearing the same title as a road project that was already funded under the 2025 budget provides an opening for irregularity.

“There should be no room for discretion when it comes to the budget. Once the budget is approved, it should be implemented properly,” he said.

“That’s what we are doing right now. providing details so there would be no room for corrupt officials to play with generic titles,” the lawmaker emphasized.

Related Tags

2026 budget ping lacson Win gatchalian AYUDA
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