ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio during the first regular session of the 20th Congress at the House of Representatives in Quezon City on July 28, 2025. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News
MANILA — ACT Teachers party-list Representative Antonio Tinio slammed the increase in deficit spending, adding this previously enabled a “massive increase” in public infrastructure, particularly flood control projects.
Prior to this, Tinio questioned fellow lawmakers over the rise in the national debt with nearly a quarter of the proposed 2027 budget set to be funded by deficit spending.
This is at around P1.69 trillion or 24 percent of the budget, according to Tinio. He compared to the budget from 2016, when only 13 percent of the spending was funded by borrowings. Tinio said this was linked to the rise in flood control projects, mired in controversy.
“In the golden age of flood control dito sa Pilipinas, the first three years of the Marcos Jr. Administration, 2023– a total of P287 billion ang flood control alone,” Tinio added.
House Committee on Appropriations Chairperson Mikaela Suansing later said the majority of borrowings previously funded big-ticket Official Development Assistance (ODA) items.
“Actually, majority of the deficit went into funding different ODA, big-ticket ODA items. For example po, the North-South Commuter Railway started in 2015 as an ODA project, and then the Metro Manila Subway project started in 2018. So majority of the borrowings went towards funding the counterparts po for those big-ticket items,” Suansing said.
House begins plenary deliberations for 2027 budget
SAFEGUARDS ON UA
There will be safeguards to ensure unprogrammed appropriations are given to initiatives that truly need them, such as foreign-assisted projects or those needing standby funds, according to Suansing.
The lawmaker said this after Tinio questioned the increase in unprogrammed appropriations.
“Ngayon pong 2027, kung titingnan po natin, ito po ‘yung pinakamababa. In nominal terms po, ‘yung unprogrammed appropriations for year 2027 as proposed in the NEP is the lowest since 1991 as a percentage of the budget,” Suansing said.
“Rest assured po, in the 2027 budget, sisiguraduhin natin na kung anuman ‘yung mga papayagan natin, ‘yung mga allowable uses under the unprogrammed appropriations na ating po aaprubahan sa House version ng General Appropriations Bill, sisiguraduhin po talaga natin na may safeguards ‘yun at talagang doon lang pupunta sa pinakakinakailangan. Halimbawa po ‘yung mga foreign-assisted projects, risk management, ‘yung mga obligasyon po natin na kinakailangang-kailangan po talaga ng standby funds,” Suansing said.
Unprogrammed appropriations is at P111.9 billion under the 2027 NEP.
House bill on proposed 2027 budget approved at committee level without amendments
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