ASEANEWS HEADLINE-ECONOMY | MANILA: Marcos signs P6.793 trillion national budget for 2026
NOT BLANK CHECKS’ President Marcos on Monday, signs the 2026 national budget in a ceremony in Malacañang, witnessed by top leaders of Congress. The President says the unprogrammed appropriations in the budget are “not blank checks,” stressing that his administration will not allow its misuse. —PPA POOL
Marcos signs P6.79-T 2026 budget; vetoes P92-B in unprogrammed appropriations | ANC
Vetoes P92.5 billion unprogrammed funds, keeps ‘soft pork’ aid
MANILA, Philippines — Acknowledging concerns over last year’s national outlay, dubbed the “most corrupt budget ever,” President Marcos yesterday vowed to prevent state funds from going to corruption as he signed this year’s P6.793-trillion outlay, the first to bar politicians from taking part in aid distribution.
The 2026 budget, crafted in the midst of public outrage over the multibillion-peso flood control mess, has a special provision that disallows “political involvement” in the distribution of financial assistance, a restriction that Marcos vowed to strictly implement.
But there is no specific prohibition on political endorsements or guarantee letters for accessing the ayuda programs, all of which were retained in the outlay.
Marcos vetoed P92.5 billion worth of unprogrammed appropriations, leaving P150.9 billion – a figure critics still deem too high.
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The unprogrammed funds, criticized for being prone to abuse, were limited to three items and would only be released upon validation and once clearly defined triggers and tests are met, officials said.
The final version of the budget also saw a significant reduction in the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which has been under fire over anomalous flood mitigation structures that allowed corrupt officials and contractors to earn huge kickbacks.
“To our countrymen, we feel your doubts and concerns over the previous budget. I am with you in the desire to ensure that every peso from taxes will go to the right projects and the needs of the people,” the President said during the budget signing ceremony at Malacañang.
“We hear you. In the national budget of 2026, the direction of the government is clear: we will be more prudent, careful and responsible in spending the funds of the nation. Each program and project will undergo scrutiny to ensure that it will have clear benefits to the people, especially the most needy sectors,” he noted.
Pork barrel-free?
Marcos said the provision prohibiting political involvement in the distribution of cash and other forms of financial assistance would ensure that the support “reaches the intended beneficiaries without patronage.”
Asked during a press briefing about the penalties to be slapped on politicians who would violate the provision, Executive Secretary Ralph Recto replied: “We will look into that but like I said, there is already a general provision… We will follow its guidelines…
“We will not add anything to the law. We will not reduce anything from what is stated in the law.”
Recto denied the claim of lawmakers who had voted against the 2026 budget that the outlay contains variations of pork barrel.
“We think it is pork barrel-free because the legislators cannot interfere in the executing of the budget and this is purely an executive function,” the executive secretary said.
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In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that congressional allocations known as “pork barrel” are unlawful, saying they violated the separation of powers by allowing lawmakers to wield non-oversight, post-enactment authority in key areas of budget executions.
Unprogrammed funds
Only three of the 10 items under unprogrammed appropriations were retained in the 2026 budget. Marcos vetoed the rest of the items, which had a total allocation of P92.5 billion.
According to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), these funds are not automatically released and remain subject to strict rules and validation.
Unprogrammed appropriations that were retained in the outlay were the support to foreign-assisted projects with loan agreements expected to be finalized during the year (P97.3 billion), risk management provisions for unforeseen contingencies (P3.6 billion) and the revised Armed Forces of the Philippines modernization program (P50 billion).
The vetoed items on the standby allocation for 2026 include budgetary support to government-owned and -controlled corporations, prior year’s local government unit shares, certain industry support programs, insurance of government assets and some proposed government counterpart funding.
Marcos lauded the support of Congress in limiting the unprogrammed appropriations to “essential needs.”
“However, I push further and reduce it to the absolute bare minimum. This shall be at a level lowest since 2019,” the President said, stressing that unprogrammed appropriations are “not blank checks.”
Last year, unprogrammed appropriations were set at P363.4 billion, significantly lower than the P731.4 billion planned for 2024 and the P807.2 billion in 2023, as reported by the DBM.
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UA stood at P251.6 billion in 2022, P176.3 billion in 2021 and P216.3 billion in 2020.
In 2019, unprogrammed funds were only P197.1 billion.
Confidential funds
The Office of the President has been given P4.5-billion confidential and intelligence funds under the 2026 budget, the same level as that of last year.
Acting Budget Secretary Ronaldo Toledo said the amount forms part of the P11.8-billion confidential and intelligence funds for this year, which is lower than the P12.120-billion budget for the same item in 2025.
Reduced DPWH budget
The DPWH, the agency at the center of the flood control mess, received P530 billion, which is P351 billion lower than its P881-billion proposed outlay in the National Expenditure Program, the budget submitted by the executive branch to Congress.
Recto said the P250 billion originally allocated for flood control was moved from DPWH to agencies like the Department of Education, DOH and the Department of Agriculture.
Meanwhile, Toledo noted that under the 2026 appropriations, the funding for flood control projects is limited to foreign-assisted ones with a total outlay of about P15.7 billion.
Reform agenda
Marcos said the 2026 budget is a vital component of the administration’s medium-term development plan and its sweeping reforms in politics and governance.
The education sector got the highest allocation with P1.345 trillion or 4.36 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. It will be used to create 32,916 teaching and 32,268 non-teaching plantilla positions in public schools and expand funding for the construction of 24,964 classrooms nationwide.
The health care sector received P448.125 billion to bankroll the universal health care fund for zero-balance billing, timely interventions for diseases, disease surveillance, rapid response mechanisms, sustainable health financing and hiring of additional doctors and nurses.
The agriculture sector was given P297.102 billion to ensure food security, modernize supply systems, boost the capacities of farmers and fisherfolk and build farm-to-market roads.
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A total of P270.189 billion was allocated to the social services sector to enhance the quality of life of the Filipino people, reduce vulnerabilities, protect the welfare of all sectors and advance human capital development.
Meanwhile, the Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Assistance Program under the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund was given P15.33 billion.
‘People’s budget’
The Senate leadership welcomed Marcos’ decision to veto P92.5 billion worth of unprogrammed funds, calling this year’s spending plan “the cleanest budget ever.”
“All other seven items under UA were vetoed. Which is fine with me since the P35.769 billion could be a duplication of the (local) counterpart fund of FAP,” Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson told reporters, saying he was “happy and satisfied” with the vetoes.
For his part, Speaker Faustino Dy III commended the signing of the 2026 national budget, vowing to exercise the lower chamber’s congressional oversight mandate.
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“The signing of the budget is not the end of our work. In fact, this is just the beginning. It is the start of oversight. Congress will make sure every peso is spent exactly as approved,” he said.
On the other hand, militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan assailed the signing of the 2026 budget, which it described as containing “wrong priorities, distortions and consequences.” — Marco Luis Beech, Neil Jayson Servallos, Delon Porcalla, Mark Ernest Villeza
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January 6, 2026 |
