The House of Representatives is set to begin deliberations on the proposed P7.2-trillion national budget for 2027 starting Monday.
Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Angela Suansing, chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, scheduled the hearings to start less than a week after President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. submitted the National Expenditure Program through acting Budget Secretary Kim Robert de Leon. House leadership, led by Speaker Faustino “Bojie” G. Dy III and Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” A. Marcos, formally received the spending plan, with Dy committing to maintain transparency throughout the budget process.
The deliberations will open with a briefing by the Development Budget Coordination Committee, composed of the Department of Budget and Management, Department of Economy, Planning and Development, Department of Finance, and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, to outline the government’s sources of financing, expenditure levels, and macroeconomic assumptions. The House appropriations panel will receive a briefing from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation on Tuesday.
Under the executive proposal, the education sector retains top priority, led by the Department of Education with a P976 billion allocation. The Department of Public Works and Highways follows with P644 billion, which includes more than P100 billion earmarked for flood control projects.
Other major proposed allocations include P353.8 billion for the health sector covering the Department of Health and PhilHealth, P332.5 billion for the Department of the Interior and Local Government, P328.8 billion for the Department of National Defense,
P302.2 billion for the transport sector, P261.7 billion for the agriculture sector, P241.6 billion for the Department of Social Welfare and Development, P176.5 billion for state universities and colleges and P86.3 billion for the judiciary.
The National Expenditure Program outlines the President’s proposed spending measure. If the House and the Senate pass differing versions of the general appropriations bill, a bicameral conference committee will convene to reconcile discrepancies before submitting the final version for presidential approval.
Several lawmakers meanwhile said they will not allow surprise insertions for the 2027 budget.