Research group IBON said that the proposed realignment of billions in flood control funds does not show real intent to prosecute all corrupt officials and confirms only selective targeting. The realignment of Php255.5 billion intentionally bypasses the government’s anti-corruption institutions and, if anything, even includes shifts to “soft” pork barrel budget items. Civil society was not even consulted despite the supposed mechanism for people’s participation.
The House Committee on Appropriations’ Budget Amendments Review Subcommittee (BARS) shifted Php255.5 billion from flood control funds under the Department of Public Works and Highways in the proposed 2026 budget. These were realigned to mainly education-, health- and agriculture-related agencies.
Budget increases in the government’s anti-corruption institutions would have been the strongest indication of seriousness in cracking down on systemic corruption that is rapidly being revealed. Yet the realignment does not ensure the massive increases in personnel, operating budgets for fieldwork and litigation, and capital investments that a real anti-corruption drive needs.
IBON said that genuinely pursuing corruption cases is extremely resource intensive. With hundreds or likely even thousands of government officials and contractors possibly involved, the current capacity of the Ombudsman, Commission on Audit (COA), Department of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Civil Service Commission (CSC), and Comelec is grossly insufficient. They have a combined budget of less than Php100 billion with only a fraction of this dedicated to cracking down on corruption.
With the realignments, the DOJ gets an additional Php815 million but over half of this is for prison facilities. The Ombudsman gets an additional Php280 million but 80% is for office rental and operating expenses. Meanwhile, the additional Php166 million for COA is only for ICT equipment and software. The resulting budget for these and other agencies is grossly disproportionate to the magnitude of the corruption problem at hand and a combined budget increase of Php50-75 billion would for instance have signified real determination against corruption.
IBON also pointed out that some Php83.9 billion is being redirected to ambiguous “soft” pork barrel projects – discretionary funds that require political guarantee letters and lack identified beneficiaries. The group said that the lack of controls on post-enactment political meddling jeopardizes accountability and stokes patronage.
Among the “soft” pork programs receiving increased funding are Assistance for Individuals in Crisis Situation (Php32.1 billion), medical aid for indigents (Php26.7 billion), Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (Php14.8 billion), and DOLE Integrated Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (Php3.3 billion). The president also seems to be given additional pork barrel with the Presidential Assistance to Farmers, Fisherfolk, and Families (Php7 billion).
IBON also criticized the House of Representatives (HOR) for sidelining civil society organizations (CSOs) from the BARS meeting on the fund realignment. Despite creating a people’s organization mechanism to involve the public more, the people were reduced to just passively watching the livestreamed BARS proceedings without any real participation or way to forward concerns.
The continued intentional neglect of key anti-corruption agencies and the merely tokenistic involvement of the public and CSOs in the budget process strongly suggests a superficial anti-corruption campaign by the Marcos Jr administration, no matter how sensational. Deep-seated and widespread corruption in the government will continue and hundreds of billions of pesos annually, and trillions of pesos over decades, will still be taken away from the needs of the people for services and development.
This underscores that it will take a vigilant public and mass movement demanding accountability to effectively combat systemic corruption.
