What is Augmentation?

Augmentation is the act of the constitutional officers (i.e., President, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and Heads of Constitutional Offices such as the Commission on Audit, Commision on Election, and Civil Service Commission) authorized to use savings in their respective appropriations to cover a deficiency in any existing item of appropriation within their respective offices.

Section 25 (5), Article VI of the 1987 Constitution, provides that no law shall be passed authorizing any transfer of appropriations; however, the President, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the heads of Constitutional Commissions may, by law, be authorized to augment any item in the general appropriations law for their respective offices from savings in other items of their respective appropriations.