Marcos warned: P633B 'hard, soft, shadow pork'

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has two days to decide on the P6.793-trillion national budget, with watchdog groups warning that over P633 billion could fuel corruption or patronage politics without a veto or executive order.

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In a letter addressed to Marcos himself, the People’s Budget Coalition and Roundtable for Inclusive Development said the 2026 national budget is riddled with three types of pork: hard, soft and shadow pork.

Citizen monitoring needed. The “hard pork,” they said, involves roughly P180 billion worth of infrastructure projects that are at risk of being repeated or overpriced. These kinds of projects include roads, bridges and flood control, which are “reshaped through political discretion rather than sound planning.”

Instead of an outright veto, the watchdogs said the projects should be opened to citizen monitoring.

They cited the Bantay Bisto Proyekto partnership with the Department of Public Works and Highways and other civil society groups which publishes project details, cost, contractor, location, photos and observable items by volunteer contributors.

An executive order for more than P600 billion in infrastructure projects should also be placed under a government-funded multisectoral citizen monitoring initiative, the groups added.

SOFT PORK TO RIGHTS-BASED PROGRAMS

For “soft pork,” which they define as politician-mediated and discretionary programs, the watchdogs urged that the P210 billion in “ayuda” or cash dole-outs be redesigned as rights-based and rules-based programs.

These programs should be implemented according to consultations made with allied health professionals and social protection experts, they said.