The ACT Teachers Party-list and Kabataan Party-list condemned the railroading of the Office of the President budget at the House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriations on September 8. The counterpart committee in the Senate also did not scrutinize it on September 10.

The House of Representatives and the Senate usually rush the approval of the president’s proposed budget under the guise of “parliamentary courtesy.” ACT Teachers and Kabataan asserted that committees should prioritize transparency over this tradition of legislators, especially in light of widespread corruption under the Marcos regime.

According to ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio, the public has the right to hear direct answers from the Office of the President and its representatives on critical issues and budget matters. Marcos proposed a ₱27.36 billion budget for his office for 2026.

His proposal includes ₱4.5 billion for confidential and intelligence funds, ₱7 billion for the Presidential Social Fund, a 340% increase in the National Task Force (NTF)-Elcac budget rising to ₱8.08 billion from ₱1.95 billion in the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP), funds for the ASEAN Summit, and others.

Kabataan Rep. Renee Co said increasing the budget of the fascist NTF-Elcac is unjust. She stressed that this is unacceptable, especially as the agency faces negative comments and assessments from the international community, including United Nations special rapporteur Irene Khan, who recommended its abolition.

The Kabataan Party-list called the legislators’ move to rush the hearings a “selective enforcement of accountability and transparency standards.” Legislators carried this out amid hearings and criticism about various anomalies and corruption in flood control projects and other infrastructure.

The party urged legislators: “do your job… stop the tradition of ‘parliamentary courtesy’ that only allows Marcos Jr to evade accountability to the people.”

In connection with the hearings, progressive groups led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) launched a protest on September 8 at the House of Representatives and on September 10 at the Senate. They condemned the Marcos regime for the rotten system in the government budget.

“The hasty approval of the budget of the office of the president will send a message that there will be no disruption in the rollout of pork barrel projects, and political patronage will remain the norm in how Malacañang deals with legislators,” Bayan said.