Senate President answers business groups alarmed over P180 billion in added DPWH projects
2027 BUDGET INSERTIONS – Senate President Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian on Saturday, October 31, 2026, assured the business sector that the Senate will remove all congressional insertions with no technical basis from the proposed P7.2-trillion national budget for 2027, without delaying its passage.
Gatchalian made the statement in response to a joint manifesto issued on October 29 by 35 business and advocacy groups, among them the Makati Business Club, the Management Association of the Philippines, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting.
The groups raised concerns over more than P180 billion in Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) allocations that the House added through its Budget Amendments and Review Subcommittee under House Bill 10858, which was approved on third reading earlier this month by a vote of 281-13.
According to the groups, independent budget watchdogs found that the additions cover at least 6,000 projects, pushing the DPWH project count to at least 16,000. Many of these appear as lump sums for multi-purpose buildings and access and bypass roads, with no published project lists or named proponents.
The groups also said the additions were funded in part by cutting about P130 billion from foreign-assisted projects, P9.5 billion from calamity funds, P4.9 billion from health programs and P1.76 billion from the EDSA Busway. “We find this deeply troubling,” they said, warning that insertions in the 2023 to 2025 budgets were linked to ghost and substandard flood control projects.
Gatchalian said there is no need to formally recall the House-approved bill. Instead, the Senate will fix the problems through its own committee and plenary review.
“The Senate Committee on Finance will remove from the General Appropriations Bill all projects lacking supporting documents, such as feasibility studies, programs of work, resolutions from the LGUs, and other required documents,” he said.
“We will continue the transparency reforms by uploading all relevant information to the Senate Transparency Portal,” Gatchalian added. He also said the Senate will drop lump-sum and unconstitutional provisions previously flagged by the Supreme Court, tighten rules on unprogrammed appropriations and keep total spending within the ceiling set in the President’s National Expenditure Program.
The Senate President rejected claims that the 2027 spending plan is an “election budget,” describing it instead as a growth and resilience budget meant to address inflation, jobs, food security, health care and disaster readiness. Earlier this week, he said the Senate is tilting the 2027 budget toward the El Niño response.
Among the business groups’ demands are the restoration of the funds cut from foreign-assisted projects, calamity funds, the EDSA Busway and health programs; the full publication of every amendment; and a ban on new items at the bicameral conference committee, whose sessions they want fully livestreamed.
The issue has also drawn comments from senators, with Sen. Panfilo Lacson recently urging the public to stay vigilant over the thousands of questionable projects flagged in the House version.