BICAM ROUND 3: PORK BARREL GOES ON A WINNING STREAK
The bicameral conference committee’s decision to balloon the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) budget to ₱63.8 billion, more than double the ₱27 billion originally proposed in the National Expenditure Program (NEP), is the latest and clearest proof that the pork barrel system is not only alive, but kicking and thriving in the 2026 budget.
AICS has long functioned as a patronage fund for congressmen and senators, who wield decisive influence over its distribution. In fact, congressmen and senators are given quotas for their AICS referrals. The massive increase approved by the Bicam shows that, despite widespread public outrage over corruption and budget manipulation, Congress continues to expand the pork barrel system.
This latest move follows a very disturbing pattern. The Bicam previously agreed to raise funding for farm-to-market roads to ₱33 billion, more than double the ₱16 billion proposed in the NEP. The controversial health aid program MAIFIP was likewise dramatically increased, from ₱30 billion in the 2026 NEP to ₱51 billion at the bicam level, an addition of more than ₱21 billion. Meanwhile, ₱2 billion was appropriated to the Tulong Dunong program now centralized under CHED.
Despite public demands to abolish the pork barrel system, Congress continues to prioritize programs that concentrate discretionary power in the hands of politicians. Congress is once again protecting and expanding politically controlled doleouts vulnerable to corrupt practices instead of strengthening universal, rights-based social services as well as genuine rural and national industrial development.
BAYAN strongly condemns the bicameral conference committee for systematically increasing such pork barrel schemes under new labels. We reiterate our call for the scrapping of pork barrel–type programs, the full public disclosure of all congressional amendments and insertions in the 2026 budget, and the reorientation of the national budget toward transparent, accountable, and pro-people spending.
The Filipino people are watching. We will hold Congress fully accountable for this continuing betrayal of the public trust.#
0 Comments