Philippines’ Marcos signs 2026 budget bill, vows prudent spending

[MANILA] Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr signed the government’s 2026 budget into law on Monday (Jan 5), and vowed to keep spending under control to ensure taxpayers’ money is used responsibly amid a corruption scandal in public works projects.

“We will not allow the hard-earned money of every Filipino to fall into the hands of the corrupt,” he said after signing the 6.79 trillion peso (S$148.5 billion) budget bill.

The spending plan, up 7.4 per cent from last year, comes after Marcos revealed that hundreds of billions of pesos in flood-control allocations were riddled with alleged irregularities last year. He has ordered an investigation and vowed that those involved would face jail.

“We understand your doubts and concerns about the previous budget. I share your desire to ensure that every peso of tax money goes to the right projects and to the genuine needs of our people,” he said.

Economic growth slowed last year partly due to the scandal, with end-2025 GDP likely to come in at 4.8 per cent to 5.0 per cent, below the 5.5 per cent to 6.5 per cent target. For this year, the government expects growth of 5 per cent to 6 per cent, lower than earlier forecasts, because of global uncertainties.

Under the 2026 budget, education remains the biggest recipient, cornering 1.3 trillion pesos, while the healthcare sector gets its highest allocation ever at 448 billion pesos. Nearly 300 billion pesos will go to the agriculture sector to boost food security and modernise supply systems.

The Department of Public Works and Highways, at the centre of the corruption controversy, saw its funding substantially cut to 530 billion pesos from its proposed 881 billion pesos.

Marcos underscored measures to strengthen accountability, including keeping “unprogrammed appropriations” – a contingency fund that can only be tapped when extra revenues or foreign loans come in – at the bare minimum.

“We will not allow the unprogrammed appropriations to be misused or treated as a backdoor for discretionary spending,” he said.

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To curb patronage politics, Marcos vowed to enforce the ban on political involvement in the distribution of cash and other forms of financial assistance.

“We hear you. In the 2026 national budget, the direction of your government is clear: we will be more prudent, more careful, and more responsible in spending the nation’s funds,” Marcos said. REUTERS