The Philippine Senate is moving to remove what lawmakers describe as corruption-prone provisions from the proposed 2027 national budget, according to Inquirer.net. Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said the chamber will cut P8.8 billion worth of infrastructure projects from the spending measure, the outlet reported.
Inquirer.net also reported that lawmakers were themselves denied transparency in the budget bill. Separately, Rappler reported that Senate Majority Leader Panfilo Lacson said the chamber's majority is united in stripping the bill of items seen as vulnerable to corruption.
The reports, published Tuesday, point to a budget process in which senators are publicly pushing to remove specific project funding while also raising concerns about how much visibility they had into the measure. The P8.8 billion figure cited by Gatchalian covers infrastructure projects only, according to Inquirer.net and Manila Bulletin.
The details available so far are limited to the senators' public statements. The reporting does not specify which projects are targeted, how the removals would be carried out, or what the transparency complaint involves beyond the headline reference.
The 2027 budget bill now heads into a phase where the Senate's proposed changes will need to be reconciled with the version from the House of Representatives. What to watch next: whether the Senate formally adopts the cuts and whether the transparency concerns raised by lawmakers are addressed in the final version of the spending plan.
