SEN. Panfilo Lacson questioned on Tuesday a "uniform" P180 million lump-sum allocation for evacuation centers in each of the country's 17 regions totaling more than P3 billion.
He also cited an apparent heavy allocation for social services under the proposed 2027 national budget.
Lacson said he and his staff's scrutiny of the National Expenditure Program (NEP) showed the proposed evacuation center allocations lacked key details, including specific locations where they would be built.
"We observed that each of the 17 regions was given a P180 million lump sum for evacuation centers. There were no details on where they would be located. The P180 million was uniformly distributed to each region," Lacson said in a radio interview.
"Was there any study to determine if a region needed more evacuation centers? There seemed to be none. That is not acceptable. There were no specifications or locations. Each of Regions 1 to 17 was simply given P180 million for a total of more than P3 billion," he added.
Lacson said the lack of details raised questions about whether the allocations were based on actual needs and priorities in each region.
The senator said he and his staff are looking into items that could become a "political" or "election" budget ahead of the 2028 national elections.
Lacson added they also found many "ayuda" or "social services" items in the NEP.
He said that while there is nothing wrong with providing assistance to those in need, the government must also ensure the national budget supports long-term development.
"The proposed 2027 budget seems to be very generous with ayuda. I told my staff to look closely at it and see if this could become an 'ayuda' budget," Lacson said.
"There's nothing wrong with 'ayuda' but we should also look at the long-term development side of how the budget is used," he added.
