The House of Representatives has removed ₱35 billion in allocations from the Strengthening Assistance for Government Infrastructure Program (SAGIP) previously included under the unprogrammed funds of the proposed ₱6.793-trillion national budget for 2026, GMA News Online reported.
The decision came after lawmakers rejected the motion of Akbayan party-list Representative Chel Diokno to scrap the entire ₱249 billion in unprogrammed appropriations. These funds are only released when the government collects excess revenues or secures foreign loans or grants.
House appropriations chairperson and Nueva Ecija Representative Mikaela Suansing explained that the reduction aims to streamline fund use toward government commitments and social programs. “Infrastructure projects would no longer be part of the authorized uses for unprogrammed appropriations, save for infrastructure projects under foreign-assisted projects and for strengthening assistance for social programs, which would be ₱45 billion in total,” Suansing said.
She added that a portion of the retained funds would support agriculture and welfare initiatives, including rice subsidies for farmers and the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s 4Ps cash transfer program. The adjustments were made to address a projected shortfall in the 4Ps budget next year.
Suansing clarified that foreign-assisted infrastructure projects could not be removed from the unprogrammed fund because the government risks facing lawsuits for breaching contracts. She noted that these projects remain unprogrammed since they missed deadlines for National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) approval and finalized agreements with funding partners.
House Deputy Speaker and Antipolo Representative Ronaldo Puno, in an earlier interview, defended the need to retain a portion of unprogrammed appropriations, saying that removing them entirely would hinder the government’s flexibility. “Pag hindi mo dinagyan ng unprogrammed na ganyan, pag may additional collections, wala kang pwedeng paglagyan nun… Sa government budgeting, hindi efficient yung ganun. Kailangan ang gobyerno ay kumikita, at kailangan magastos iyon. Otherwise, the economy will slow down,” Puno said.
