Philippine Congress Adopts Reforms to Open Up Budget Process

MANILA — The Philippine House of Representatives has approved new rules designed to make the country’s national budget process more transparent, replacing a long-standing closed-door system with a subcommittee that will hold public hearings on proposed changes.

Rep. Brian Poe Llamanzares of the FPJ Panday Bayanihan party-list praised the reform, saying it will allow citizens to see how lawmakers adjust the budget before it is sent to the Senate for final approval.

“At the first Committee on Appropriations executive meeting, we made it a priority to highlight transparency and accountability—inviting more observers, opening up to the media, and making sure the budget process is as open to the public as possible,” Llamanzares said in a Facebook post.

The change centers on the creation of a Budget Amendments Review Subcommittee, which will meet weekly—likely every Friday afternoon—to discuss all proposed changes to the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), the annual legislation that sets government spending. The hearings will be open to the public and the press.

Appropriations Committee Chair Rep. Mika Suansing of Nueva Ecija province said the new approach will replace the so-called “small committee,” a select group of lawmakers that traditionally met behind closed doors after the budget passed the House’s final reading to decide which last-minute changes to include. The lack of transparency in that system had been a point of criticism from watchdog groups.

Under the new rules, civil society organizations will also be allowed to sit in as non-voting observers during deliberations, marking another step toward public participation in government budgeting.

“This will allow potential changes to the budget to be monitored and studied more thoroughly,” Suansing said, crediting the initiative to the collective support of all committee members.

Debates on the proposed 2025 national budget are set to begin Monday, August 18, with both chambers of Congress expected to work toward passage before the year’s end.