By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA — The House and Senate bicameral conference committee must do more than put cameras on its proceedings when it tackles the proposed P7.2-trillion national budget for 2027, ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio said Sunday.
Tinio urged lawmakers to prevent congressional insertions and other forms of discretionary spending, warning that livestreaming the bicameral talks would amount to little more than a public spectacle if controversial allocations remain embedded in the final spending measure.
“True transparency demands the dismantling of all pork barrel mechanisms, not just cameras in the bicam,” Tinio said.
The lawmaker criticized last year’s budget process, when the bicameral conference committee opened its proceedings to public viewing for the first time.
While the move was presented as a transparency measure, Tinio argued that it failed to address what he considered the more serious problem: the survival of large standby appropriations and alleged pork allocations despite public scrutiny.
He likened livestreaming the bicam to broadcasting a contest whose outcome had already been determined, arguing that greater visibility means little if lawmakers can still make substantial changes to the spending plan without sufficient safeguards.
Tinio specifically pointed to the P243.4 billion in unprogrammed appropriations included in last year’s budget.
Unprogrammed funds are standby appropriations that may be released only when additional revenues become available or when the government secures financing for them.
Critics have questioned the size and potential use of such funds, particularly because they can provide room for projects and expenditures that were not part of the regular programmed budget.
For 2027, the Department of Budget and Management has proposed P111.98 billion in unprogrammed appropriations.
Tinio said the lower proposed amount does not eliminate the need for tighter scrutiny.
The 2027 budget is now undergoing congressional review, with lawmakers examining the spending priorities of the Marcos administration before the measure reaches the President for approval.
The bicameral conference committee will serve as the final congressional stage, where senators and representatives will reconcile differences between their respective versions of the spending bill.
Tinio said this stage requires genuine transparency because significant changes can emerge during the reconciliation process.
He called on lawmakers to ensure that the final budget reflects legitimate national priorities rather than allocations inserted through congressional discretion.
For Tinio, the issue is not simply whether the public can watch the bicam.
The bigger question, he said, is whether lawmakers are prepared to eliminate mechanisms that allow pork-barrel-style allocations and questionable insertions to survive the budget process.
“Livestreaming the bicam is like broadcasting a wrestling match that everyone knows is rigged,” Tinio said.
He warned that without stronger safeguards, the same system criticized last year could simply be repeated in the 2027 budget.
The challenge before Congress, he stressed, is transparency that produces accountability—not transparency staged for the cameras.
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