Senator Loren Legarda’s Co-Sponsorship Speech on the Concurrent Resolution Strengthening the National Budget Process by Adopting and Enforcing Transparency and Accountability Measures to Ensure Public Access to Information and Allow Public Participation in the Deliberations of the 2026 General Appropriations Act | August 12, 2025

Mr. President, distinguished colleagues,

I rise today in support of this concurrent resolution, which seeks to make the 2026 General Appropriations Act truly reflective of the people’s will by ensuring public access to budget-related documents that promote transparency.

The Senate’s work to make our budget process more transparent and accountable should not end with this concurrent resolution alone. This is not a panacea to the deeper problems that have long affected the way we craft and approve our national budget. It is a step forward, but one that must be followed through with further and more strategic reforms.

As such, I wish to highlight key issues that must be addressed, along with existing measures aimed at meeting the call for a more effective budget process. First, this concurrent resolution complements the transparency measures proposed by Senate Joint Resolution No. 1, filed by members of the Senate minority bloc, which seeks to open all bicameral conference committee deliberations to the public. This reform would close a significant gap that the concurrent resolution, important as it is, cannot by itself resolve.

For too long, key stages of the National Budget process, especially the bicameral conference committee deliberations, have taken place out of public view. This has created perceptions, and at times the reality, of last-minute changes and decisions made without plenary scrutiny or interpellation. As a result, the budget is often viewed as being shaped by limited decision-makers rather than through open and inclusive deliberations.

As such, livestream access, the publication of a matrix comparing House and Senate versions, and the release of comprehensive minutes should be Standard Operating Procedures. These measures will help dismantle the culture of secrecy that has too often surrounded the bicameral process and restore fidelity to the Constitution’s mandate of transparency and accountability.

Transparency, however, must be matched with participation. That is why I also draw attention to the proposed People’s Participation in the National Budget Process Act filed by Senator Lacson and me. This measure institutionalizes the role of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the preparation and authorization of the national budget. It guarantees at least 30 percent representation from marginalized sectors, ensures access to agency performance data, and allows CSOs to provide policy critiques. These safeguards will give communities—especially those most affected by government spending—an active voice in how public funds are planned and allocated.

Moreover, openness and participation are not enough if we continue to measure success only by pesos spent or projects completed, rather than by the real and lasting changes they create. Every budget season, agencies face one simple but fundamental question: “How did your initiatives improve the lives of the Filipino people?”

Filipinos deserve to know not just what was delivered, but what changed because it was done. Yet the answers we often hear — families reached, roads paved, beneficiaries enrolled — speak only of outputs, not outcomes. They tell us about activity, not impact.

Did free Wi-Fi in schools improve student learning? Did livelihood training translate into sustained income? Did new rural clinics lower maternal deaths or expand access to treatment?

Too often, these questions are neither asked at the start, measured along the way, nor answered at the end. Without credible evidence, accomplishments become echoes of effort rather than proof of change.

The gap lies not in intent, but in the absence of a results-based system that tracks, measures, and applies lessons.

For decades, the lack of a systematic, integrated Monitoring and Evaluation framework has hampered our ability to assess effectiveness. Reports rely on outputs, evaluations are inconsistent or unused, and findings rarely feed back into policy and budgeting. Funds are spent without a feedback loop for improvement. This matter cannot be overlooked anymore and that is the reason why I have filed the “National Results-Based Governance Act” in this Congress.

Your Honor, we often speak of the 30 to 60 percent lost to corruption, wastage, and substandard work in our flood control infrastructure. Now imagine if, instead of losing that much, we embedded a three percent allocation for results-based monitoring and evaluation in every project. Though small, this could safeguard projects, ensure real impact, and prevent far greater losses to the public purse.

Measurement, however, depends on the availability of reliable data which is why I also filed the Open Government Data Act. This measure seeks to embed knowledge management and transparency into the routine work of government, moving beyond a system that reacts only to requests for information or data. The need for this measure is clear to me because I have seen, time and again, how uneven and elusive government data can be.

I recall a heated budget hearing where sectoral data suddenly became available upon request, complete with charts and reports. This was in stark contrast to ordinary days, when agencies would claim that such information was unavailable, confidential, or buried in bureaucracy.

In my four Senate terms, including my time as Finance Chair, I have witnessed this pattern repeatedly: data emerges when budgets are on the line, but vanishes when it is most needed to shape policy, inform the public, guide investments, or engage citizens.

Under the proposed Open Government Data Act, agencies must consistently and periodically publish high-impact datasets in open, machine-readable formats, establish a central Open Data Portal, and maintain a Registry of Withheld Data to ensure accountability even when disclosure is lawfully restricted. This is a clear departure from the present system, where agencies often keep documents behind procedural barriers wherein the Freedom of Information process has, in effect, institutionalized a form of red tape that hinders public access. Sa ganitong mga paraan, ang mga detalye ng programa, proyekto, at iba pang mahahalagang impormasyon ay maaari nang kilatisin at suriin ng lahat nang hindi na kailangang mangulit, manghingi, at maghintay pa ng mabagal at malabong tugon mula sa iba nating mga ahensya.

Taken together, these measures—and the concurrent resolution before us—will transform our budget process from a closed-door negotiation into a public exercise in democratic governance.

Mr. President, it is time to take decisive steps toward greater openness in the budget process. Let us pass this concurrent resolution and ensure that complementary reforms are advanced so that transparency, participation, and accountability become the foundations of how we spend.

A budget made in full public view, supported with results-based and open government data, will always advance the people’s interest. The veil surrounding the budget process must be lifted, allowing every peso to be accounted for, observed, and examined by the people.

Marami pong salamat.