THE House of Representatives began on Monday its hearings to scrutinize the 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP).
The review started with a briefing by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), tackling the budget proposals of different departments, agencies and government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs).
Speaker Faustino Dy III vowed that the chamber would subject next year’s spending plan to rigorous scrutiny to ensure that every peso delivers concrete benefits to the Filipino people.
“In the end, we have a single yardstick: a budget that is truly for the people and felt by the people,” he said.
House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Rep. Mika Suansing said the House would closely work with the executive branch in crafting a spending program responsive to the needs of Filipino families.
Collaboration between the two branches, she said, would be crucial in translating the administration’s spending priorities into improvements in education, healthcare, jobs and other basic services.
“We affirm the framework laid out by the DBCC in crafting the 2027 National Budget. In this budget, that means prioritizing investments in quality education, healthcare and workforce upskilling,” she added.
The lawmaker added that the chamber would ensure that the proposed P7.2 trillion expenditure for next year would not just be on paper but would be felt by every Filipino.
“To our partners in the executive branch: we look forward to working with you in crafting a budget that will be truly responsive to our people’s needs and will unlock our country’s full potential,” Suansing said.
“This year, I look forward to further strengthening our collective efforts in safeguarding the Filipino people’s faith in the budget process and in securing our country’s economic future for generations to come,” she added.
The DBCC briefing marks the opening of House deliberations on the proposed 2027 national budget, including a review of the government’s fiscal and economic assumptions and spending priorities.
According to the Department of Budget and Management, agencies and sectors with the largest allocations in the proposed 2027 budget are Department of Education (P976 billion), Department of Public Works and Highways (P644 billion, including over P100 billion for flood control initiatives), health sector (P353.8 billion, Department of Health and PhilHealth combined), Department of the Interior and Local Government (P332.5 billion), Department of National Defense (P328.8 billion), Transport Sector (P302.2 billion), Agriculture Sector (P261.7 billion), Department of Social Welfare and Development (P241.6 billion), higher education (P176.5 billion), and the Judiciary (P86.3 billion).
The DBM submitted the NEP, totaling P7.2 trillion, to Congress on Aug. 11.
House leaders are looking at a 53-day timeline from Aug. 17 to Oct. 9, 2026, to pass the General Appropriations Bill.
Lower food prices
Sen. Francis Pangilinan said the proposed P7.2-trillion budget should help lower food prices, raise the incomes of farmers and fisherfolk, and improve nutrition and education.
Pangilinan, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform, said the proposed spending plan should be measured by how it affects ordinary Filipinos, particularly poor families and the people who produce the country’s food.
“The measure of the P7.2-trillion budget is not how large it is, but whether it reaches ordinary Filipinos and lifts them out of poverty,” Pangilinan said.
“It must be felt at the dining table, in the income of farmers and fisherfolk, in the schools of our children, and in the daily lives of every Filipino family,” he added.
Pangilinan said agriculture and fisheries should receive sufficient support to help farmers and fisherfolk earn better incomes while making food more affordable for consumers.
He said stronger domestic food production would also help make nutritious food more accessible to poor families, particularly children vulnerable to hunger, malnutrition and stunting.
