MANILA— Senate majority bloc members are supporting efforts to remove questionable and potentially corruption-prone allocations from the proposed 2027 national budget, with no lawmaker exempted from scrutiny, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson said Sunday.

Lacson said the bloc was backing Senate finance committee chairman Jose Victor “JV” Ejercito’s initiative to eliminate unwarranted allocations and ensure transparency throughout the budget deliberations.

“The majority of senators are rallying behind Senate Finance Committee Chairman JV Ejercito’s efforts to cleanse the 2027 budget of unwarranted, whimsical, and corruption-prone items. — ALL MEANS ALL!” Lacson said in a post on X.

The senator reiterated that the Senate’s review would cover all questionable allocations, including those involving lawmakers considered close to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Asked during an interview on One News’ Storycon whether the scrutiny would include the largest net increase in public works allocations for the congressional district of presidential son and Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos in the House-approved budget, Lacson replied, “Yes, absolutely.”

He also said he was not aware of any member of the Senate majority bloc inserting personal projects into the budget, adding that he sensed his colleagues shared the same position based on their group conversations.

“Sa Senate hindi ko alam kung may mangahas maglagay ng pet projects I don’t think so. Pag nagcha-chat kami, alam ko ramdam ko ang sentiment ng aking kasamahan (In the Senate, I don’t know if anyone would dare insert pet projects. I don’t think so. When we chat, I can feel the sentiment of my colleagues),” Lacson said.

The Senate’s push for stricter scrutiny follows Ejercito’s agreement with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) over the removal of infrastructure projects lacking complete supporting documents from the House-approved budget bill.

The agency must submit the required documents by November 3 or have the affected projects excluded before the start of plenary debates.

Budget advocacy groups had previously identified missing supporting documents as among the red flags in the House-transmitted version of the proposed budget.

A Senate review showed that the number of DPWH projects increased from 11,420 under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) to 16,244 in the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) transmitted by the House of Representatives.

Of the projects in the House version, 6,271 were newly introduced by lawmakers without undergoing initial scrutiny by the executive branch.

Ejercito also announced plans to invite civil society organizations to observe the bicameral conference committee deliberations, which would be livestreamed as part of efforts to promote transparency.

Lacson earlier said the Senate majority had agreed to adopt transparency measures introduced by former Senate finance committee chairman and now Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian.

He added that senators were taking a firm stance against questionable allocations in the House-approved version of the budget.

The Senate is scheduled to resume plenary sessions on November 9, when deliberations on the budget bill are expected to proceed. Ejercito has said plenary debates are expected to begin on November 23.