Budget allocations required by the various government agencies have added up to a combined P11 trillion national budget sought for 2026, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said on Monday.
The total budgetary requirements submitted by government agencies for their proposed projects and operations compare with the P9 trillion budgetary submission for fiscal year 2025.
“Of course, there’s a net ceiling set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee,” Budget Undersecretary Goddes Hope Libiran told reporters on the sidelines of the Open Government Week 2025 event in Quezon City on Monday.
“The DBM’s job is to determine which ones are really aligned with our Medium-Term Fiscal Framework, with the Philippine Development Plan, with the priorities of the administration, and which ones are implementation-ready,” Libiran said.
Review process
The submissions will go through different review processes, before any decision is made on which proposals will be part of the 2026 budget.
“There are a lot of agencies that want to do a lot. For example, the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines). Their request for a modernization program has increased,” Libiran said, adding that there are a lot of other agencies that also want to do more.
While the budgetary submissions reached P9 trillion for 2025, the approved General Appropriations Act for 2025 amounted to P6.326 trillion.
Projections under Budget for Expenditures and Sources of Financing for 2025 totaled P6.793 trillion for next year, which is not to be the final amount. Once the 2026 national budget has been made final, the numbers will then be also made public.
“We need to get things done. That’s the marching order of the president,” Libiran said, adding, “People need to see that their taxes are going somewhere.”
Anchored on the 2023-2028 Plan
In its National Budget Call for fiscal year 2026, issued through National Budget Memorandum No. 153, the DBM said the proposed 2026 national budget and its priorities shall be anchored on the national government’s commitment to the achievement of the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028. The Plan is aligned with the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the AmBisyon Natin 2040.
The DBM said the fiscal-year 2026 budget aims to manage the lingering effect of inflation to safeguard the purchasing power of the Filipino people; support infrastructure investments given its multiplier effect in boosting the Philippine economy; sustain the government’s efforts to digitalize public financial management to boost bureaucratic efficiency and drive effective and transparent service delivery; and create a more inclusive and balanced development landscape across the country by striking a balance on the geographical budgetary needs of rural or urban areas in the regions, aside from the National Capital Region, while enabling local counterparts through capacity development.
“Fully aware, however, of the impact of the country’s debt burden and the competing demands of government agencies, the allocation of the 2026 budget will be optimized,” the DBM said in its memo.
“As part of the evaluation process, the government will consider how the agencies utilized their previous year’s budget and the implementation progress of their mandated programs and projects to ensure that only those agency proposals, which are implementation-ready, are included in the budget. This means that the agencies are expected to provide the relevant supporting documents, e.g., concrete program plans and designs that outline key procurement and implementation milestones, including specific project locations and beneficiaries, among others,” it added.
