Deceptive transparency

Sophie Mazo 

Amidst the emergence of anomalies in fiscal expenditure, it is questionable how the Philippines ranks first in government budget transparency in Southeast Asia, as per the 2025 Open Budget Survey (OBS). Despite its score rising from 75 to 76 out of 100, other indicators—such as public participation and oversight, as assessed by the International Budget Partnership (IBP)—expose the duplicity behind this benchmark. While recent statistics point to economic improvement, the country’s lack of accountability renders this achievement a mere display of deceptive transparency.

Notably, the administration has taken steps to promote local inclusivity in budget planning, exemplified by Executive Secretary Ralph Recto’s January meeting with local government officials to align national budget priorities with local needs for the 2026 budget cycle. However, this merely conceals the sharp decline in legislative oversight, as Congress’ failure to demand accountability in public spending caused the country’s score to drop from 81 to 58.

The infamous flood control scandal stands as glaring proof of the Congress’ lenience in ensuring accountability. In spite of the 2013 Supreme Court ruling declaring the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) unconstitutional, political patronage persists through project insertions—the addition of legislator-backed projects to the national budget outside the regular planning process. In Oriental Mindoro, Governor Humerlito Dolor testified that these insertions inflated flood control allocations by ₱17.8 billion, resulting in overpriced and substandard projects, with contractors allegedly paying kickbacks to secure contracts.

Evidently, this exposes the weaponization of legislative power to bypass constitutional prohibitions against pork barrel, therefore eroding public trust. 

Furthermore, although the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA) sought to curb political influence in distributing cash assistance through programs such as the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS), a loophole remains. The identification and endorsement of beneficiaries often pass through politicians’ “assistance desks,” despite distribution being handled by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). This enables politicians to claim credit for taxpayer-funded aid, reinforcing citizens’ overdependence by tying public assistance to political influence.

This is yet another illustration of how transparency is simulated, yet hollowed out by feeble legislation.

Through a more detrimental lens, intensified political influence over public funds without corresponding accountability jeopardizes projects intended to improve taxpayers’ quality of life. In Albay, for instance, a ₱159-million flyover project remained only 12% complete after five years despite being reported as completed in official records. This renders the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Transparency Portal spineless, as multiple projects listed on it reportedly fail to reflect the actual status of publicly funded infrastructure.

Worse still, despite the country’s classification as an upper-middle-income economy by the World Bank, its Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of USD 4,850, hailed as a product of good macroeconomic management, remains misleading. As a generalized measure of average income, it fails to capture governance issues and widening inequalities reflected in the poor quality of life. This is further overshadowed by the nation’s ₱18.55 trillion debt, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), which depicts the government’s increasing reliance on borrowing to finance public utilities. 

The bottom line is this, without genuine accountability in spending and meaningful democratic participation in budget allocation, true transparency will remain unattainable. Eradicating loopholes in legal provisions to strengthen economic accountability is of the utmost importance.

Therefore, it is high time that Congress fully ratifies into law the CADENA (Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability) Act across all agencies to integrate budget allocation, procurement, and project completion data into a single public-facing dashboard, allowing citizens to monitor the real-time status of public funds. Additionally, DSWD should stringently ensure that recipients of cash assistance are identified through legitimate mechanisms free from political endorsement. Lastly, public watchdogs should intensify independent audits and citizen-led monitoring to expose irregularities and hold public officials accountable.

Otherwise, heightened benchmark scores will only continue to expose the deception that performative transparency seeks to normalize.