2026 NEP red flags bared

Completed projects still funded; ongoing ventures disappear – Puno

- By ELLSON QUISMORIO

Congressmen have uncovered that finished or completed projects continue to receive fresh allocations under the 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted by the national government to the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker Rep. Ronaldo Puno said.

Puno, who represents the 1st District of Antipolo City in the House, said the P6.793-trillion NEP for 2026 that the House received from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) was replete with glaring discrepancies.

In a press conference Friday, Aug. 29, Puno bared that many of his House colleagues have pointed out that finished or completed projects continue to receive fresh allocations under the 2026 NEP, the basis of the budget measure next year.

Puno said that Marikina City stood out as the most striking example, with flood control works long finished there still appeared in the budget, while the funding for other crucial projects were left out.

"The funniest example is in Marikina, with Congressman Marcy Teodoro. His proposed NEP for 2026 arrived. When he saw it, we were sitting next to each other during the hearing, he said, 'Sec, should I just return this to the DBM?' I asked, why? He said all the listed projects were already completed," recounted Puno, a former Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary.

Teodoro said one of the completed projects that still received allocation under the 2026 NEP was the slope protection at Balanti Creek in Barangay Sto. Niño, Marikina. This was finished back in 2023.

Puno, chairman of the National Unity Party (NUP), said that in his own district in Antipolo City, the opposite problem of Marikina transpired. He said that flood control projects which had been carefully staged over several years suddenly disappeared from the budget, and thus disrupted efforts to protect vulnerable communities from persistent flooding.