The General Appropriations Bill (GAB) of 2026 had been approved by a den of “unrepentant thieves,” Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) said.
As both houses of Congress approved like clockwork next year’s national budget, BAYAN condemned Congress for railroading a national budget “brazenly designed for plunder, political patronage, and state repression.”
The group pointed out that the proposed budget remains riddled with pork barrel in all its forms – hard pork, soft pork, presidential pork, congressional and senatorial “allocables,” LGU pork, generals’ pork, and ballooned Unprogrammed Appropriations – amounting to a staggering P695 billion placed under discretionary control.
“The final 2026 GAB up for ratification is incontrovertible proof that Congress has become a den of unrepentant thieves,” BAYAN fumed.
BAYAN however said that despite public outrage over corruption and the exposure of massive pork barrel abuses, lawmakers have once again conspired to pass a budget full of funds they can steal.
BAYAN said the 2026 GAB retains the very mechanisms through which public funds are siphoned off through kickbacks, political favors, and patronage networks.
“Giving their members and the public just one day to study the document prior to ratification shows their ill intention to ram the document down the people’s throats,” it said.
At the House of Representatives on Monday night, members of the Makabayan coalition tried to object to swift passage of the bill but were ignored.
BAYAN also complained of inadequate funds for social services despite Congress’ boasts of increased budgets for education, health, social protection, and government workers’ benefits.
“Ang problema ng budget ay hindi kakulangan ng pera kundi kakulangan ng konsensya,” it said.
Worse, the 2026 GAA massively increases funding for confidential and intelligence funds, militarization, and counterinsurgency programs, alongside an expanded AFP modernization budget with little to no public disclosure, the group revealed.
Meanwhile, Malacanang Palace on Tuesday said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is busy reviewing the enrolled bill prior to signing it into law before 2025 expires.
Malacanang said Marcos wants to make sure that the budget is corruption-free, a claim BAYAN said is a “most explosive lie that will greet the New Year.”
“In the face of massive lump-sum funds, discretionary releases, opaque allocations, and entrenched pork barrel systems, this claim is not only false but an insult to a people already burdened by high prices, job insecurity, and declining public services,” the group said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
