HOUSE leaders have filed a resolution seeking to institutionalize the participation of civil society groups in the budget deliberations to promote transparency and people-centered governance.
House Resolution 94, which seeks to accredit bonafide people’s organizations and allow them to participate as non-voting observers in all public hearings of the House Committee on Appropriations and its sub-committees was introduced by House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Tingog Party-list Representatives Yedda Marie Romualdez, Andrew Julian K. Romualdez, and Jude A. Acidre.
Under the proposed measure, the Committee on Appropriations, in coordination with the Committee on People’s Participation, will determine the eligibility, accreditation process, and scope of civil society groups' participation in accordance with House rules.
It raised the vital role of the critical expertise of people’s organizations working in key sectors, such as education, public health, social welfare, environment, agriculture and local governance in making a responsive and grounded budgeting.
Speaker Romualdez said the proposed measure is aligned with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s earlier calls for better fiscal governance and his administration’s efforts to realign government spending toward key priorities such as infrastructure, health, and digitalization.
“We want a budget process that truly listens to the people. Mahalagang may boses ang taumbayan sa umpisa pa lang ng budget deliberation upang lalong matugunan ang mga pangangailangan ng mamamayan,” said Speaker Romualdez.
(We want a budget process that truly listens to the people. It is important that the citizens have a voice right from the start of the budget deliberations so that the needs of the people can be better addressed.)
“Kaya gusto natin siguraduhin na may kinatawan ang civil society sa mga pagdinig. This will ensure that the budget process is transparent and accountable to the people,” Speaker Romualdez added.
(That’s why we want to ensure that civil society has representation in the hearings. This will ensure that the budget process is transparent and accountable to the people.)
The authors are hoping for the adoption of the measure before the start of the 2026 budget cycle.
Earlier, several members of the upper and lower chamber of Congress filed a joint resolution seeking to open all bicameral conference committee deliberations on the national budget to the public.
The joint resolution also requires the bicameral conference panel to produce a matrix comparing the differences between the House of Representatives' and the Senate's versions of the General Appropriations Act (GAA), which contains the proposed national budget for each fiscal year, and how these differences were resolved.
During his fourth State of the Nation Address (Sona), Marcos said that for the 2026 national budget, he will make sure that the GAA is fully aligned with the National Expenditures Program.
“Therefore, for the 2026 national budget, I will return any proposed GAA that is not fully aligned with the national expenditures program, and further I am willing to do this even if we end up having a reenacted budget,” he said.
“Hindi ko aaprubahan ang kahit anong budget na hindi alinsunod sa plano ng gobyerno para sa sambayanang Pilipino,” he added.
(I will not approve any budget that is not aligned with the government’s plan for the Filipino people.)
The 2025 national budget faced criticisms due to alleged “pork-barrel like insertions,” as well as discrepancies, particularly the blanks in sections related to the budget of the Department of Agriculture and unprogrammed appropriations, including amounts reaching billions of pesos. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)