Questions are mounting over why the House suddenly moved plenary deliberations on its proposed ₱27.9‑billion 2027 budget from Sept. 24 to Sept. 17—an eyebrow‑raising timing that conveniently coincided with Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, the lawmaker most insistent on scrutinizing congressional spending, being abroad.
Documents reviewed by PGMN show the Congress budget was originally scheduled for Sept. 24. But the House quietly revised its calendar, rescheduling the deliberation to Sept. 17 at 10 a.m.—with the official update posted suspiciously late at 11:50 p.m. on Sept. 16.
A notice reviewed by PGMN shows lawmakers were only emailed about the change at 2:05 a.m. on Sept. 17, mere hours before the rescheduled session began.
Tiangco’s absence was glaring. In August, he had pressed the House to explain why it avoided the same pre‑plenary examination required of other agencies, demanding details on how its 2025 and 2026 allocations were spent and the basis for its 2027 proposal.
Tiangco argued that lawmakers could not properly examine House spending without first seeing how the funds were allocated and used. Appropriations Committee Chair Mika Suansing said his request for the House to undergo the same process as other departments would be referred to the chamber’s leadership.
Yet when the ₱27.9‑billion Congress budget was taken up on Sept. 17, it faced no questions and no objections.
House Committee on Accounts Chair Maria Carmen Zamora sponsored the proposal. After her sponsorship, Pangasinan Rep. Marlyn Primicias-Agabas announced that no member of the minority would be asking questions. Philreca Party-list Rep. Presley de Jesus then moved to terminate sponsorship and debate, with the majority seconding the motion.
The deliberation lasted only about six minutes, from 10:30 a.m. to 10:36 a.m., before it was terminated without a single interpellation.
Internal House budget matters fall under the Committee on Accounts, chaired by Zamora, with Tingog Rep. Yedda Romualdez—wife of jailed plunderer Martin Romualdez—serving as senior vice chair.
But the circumstances leave a direct question unanswered: Why was the ₱27.9‑billion Congress budget rushed forward by seven days, timed with Tiangco’s absence, and passed without a single question—even from the minority—while the lawmaker most determined to expose House spending was out of the country?
