SEN. Loren Legarda raised the need to address underspending, saying idle public funds “weaken” government performance and directly affect citizens waiting for services. The senator on Thursday expressed support for the formation of a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Public Expenditures. She said it is a vital reform to ensure that every peso in the national budget is spent with integrity, transparency, and in line with the country’s development priorities. In a statement, Legarda said funds that remain idle are “not savings.” They represent targets not achieved, services delayed, and opportunities lost, she stressed. “This oversight committee is not about micromanaging agencies. It will be created so that funds meant for hospitals, classrooms, farms, and disaster resilience do not get lost in delays, waste, or misuse,” she said. She warned that chronic underspending, poorly designed projects, and implementation leakages translate directly into unfinished roads, overcrowded hospitals, and vulnerable communities left without protection from disasters. “Every time an agency sits on its budget or fails to implement it properly, it translates to a family waiting longer for a health center, a student losing a chance at quality education, a farmer still without irrigation,” Legarda said. Leaving budgets idle prevents the government from channeling funds to agencies with stronger track records, she added. “When budgets are unused, resources that could have been realigned to agencies with stronger implementation records and proven sectoral impact remain locked in underperforming programs. This distorts efficient resource allocation and undermines equity in public spending,” she said. “A strong oversight committee will compel agencies to fix bottlenecks early and prove that they are turning appropriations into tangible results.” Legarda said continuous monitoring of the P6.793 trillion 2026 national budget will strengthen the credibility of the spending program and protect key investments in health, education, livelihoods, and climate and disaster resilience. The senator said responsible and integrity-driven budgeting does not end when the president signs the GAA. “Congress has a duty to follow the implementation from line item to last mile to ensure that the budget that we debate d and defended in the plenary is implemented properly in every barangay (village),” she said.