Congress hiked standby funds in 2024-26 budgets for ‘pork,’ SC told

MANILA, Philippines — Congress has increased unprogrammed appropriations (UA), or standby funds, in the national budget beyond what President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. proposed, to park their pork barrel as “budget insertions,” economists told the Supreme Court on Tuesday.  On the first day of the oral arguments on the consolidated petitions questioning the legality of UA in