PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. yesterday said he wants the proposed 2026 national budget “cleaned out” of all insertions, saying he would not tolerate questionable funding in next year’s spending bill.
In an ambush interview at the launching of the “Turismo Asenso” loan program, the President expressed disgust at reports that the National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to Congress included budget allocations for projects that were already completed.
“Sa 2026 budget, marami pa ring siningit. So, talagang it’s a – it really needs to be cleaned out properly (There are still a lot of insertions in the 2026 budget. It really needs to be cleaned out properly),” he said.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro, in a briefing, urged lawmakers to coordinate with agencies such as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to verify whether a project flagged in the budget is already completed or still ongoing in another location.
“Hindi po ito papayagan ng Pangulo. Nadinig po natin, galit na po ang Pangulo at ayaw po niya na may isinisingit pa sa budget dahil ang budget na ‘to ay para sa taumbayan at para sa proyekto para sa bayan (The President will not tolerate it. We’ve heard him, he is angry and does not want any more insertions because this budget is for the people and the nation’s projects),” Castro said.
Reports said that apart from insertions, proposed budgets for priority projects of other lawmakers have also been removed from the proposed NEP.
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, in an interview, said that they are as irritated as some of the lawmakers over the alleged insertions in the proposed budget.
Pangadaman said they had worked on the proposal for at least six months and it had been vetted and approved by the President and his Cabinet before it was submitted to Congress.
She said she would work with DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon on verifying the reported anomalous projects, such as substandard and ghost projects, that were re-inserted in the 2026 NEP and would receive double budgets.
“So, we will do our best to check and then moving forward to ensure that this will not be repeated because it would be a waste of time,” she said mixed English and Filipino.
COMELEC BUDGET CUTS
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday urged the House of Representatives to restore a significant portion of the cuts that the Executive has made to its proposed budget for 2026, saying the huge reduction will affect its preparations for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) next year and the national elections in 2028.
Election chairman George Garcia told the budget hearing of the House Committee on Appropriations that the Comelec requested a budget of P18 billion for next year, but only P11.8 billion was approved by Malacañang in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted to Congress.
The President recently signed into law Republic Act No. 12232, which extended the terms of barangay and SK officials to four years and effectively postponed the BSKE, which is originally set to be held on December 1 this year, to November 2026.
Garcia said the Comelec would need between P6 billion to P9 billion to prepare for the BSKE and the 2028 national elections.
He said there will not be enough funds for the BSKE in 2026 under the Comelec’s proposed budget in the NEP because it does not have funds for the barangay and youth polls since the proposed budget was prepared with the assumption that the elections would proceed in December.
He said the growing number of registered voters is also a problem because the Comelec will need additional voting precincts and teachers to man them during elections.
On top of the between 24 to 25 million voters for the SK polls, the Comelec also expects 71 million regular voters for the 2026 barangay elections.
Garcia said the Comelec’s proposed budget also does not include the additional P2,000 honoraria of teachers and support staff, which he said would require around P9 billion more, and if given, would increase the Comelec’s 2026 budget to almost P21 billion.
“Tinanggal kasi ng executive (ang honoraria budget). Ibig sabihin ‘yung tinanggap ng mga guro natin noong national and local elections noong 2025, na may dagdag silang P2,000 across-the-board, ay wala po sa budget para sa barangay and SK (It was removed by the Executive. Meaning, the amount received by our teachers last national elections and local elections in 2025 where they got P2,000 across-the-board, is not in the budget for barangay and SK polls),” he said.
Garcia said the two-year preparations for the 2028 national and local elections will also be affected by the budget reduction. “That’s the reason why po nag-propose kami ng P19 billion sa amin pong original proposal (That’s the reason why we proposed P19 billion in our original proposal to the Department of Budget and Management),” he said.
“Kaya lang po, the executive department reduced it to… wala na pong natira halos (However, the Executive department reduced it… almost nothing was left,” he said.
‘GUARD THE EDUC SECTOR’
In the Senate, Sen. Panfilo Lacson urged the Executive branch to “guard” the education sector’s budget in the proposed 2026 national budget so it cannot be overtaken again by the DPWH, noting what happened in the 2025 national budget when the DPWH got a P1.007 trillion budget, as against the education sector’s P977.6 billion.
The education sector includes the Department of Education, State Colleges and Universities, Commission on Higher Education, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
Lacson likewise urged the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) not to again allow itself to become an “accessory” to the potential violation of the 1987 Constitution.
During Monday’s briefing of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), Lacson said the DBM should be at forefront in reminding lawmakers against violating the constitutional mandate to give the highest priority to the education sector in the national budget.
“Please remind lawmakers not to go beyond what is provided for in the Constitution… If we disobey the Constitution, that would be a major, major, major issue,” he said in Filipino.
Lacson said the DBM should not have agreed to appropriate more to the DPWH than the education sector.
“I hate to say this, but the DBM became an accessory after the fact to justify the congressional miracle where the education sector’s budget was slashed,” he said.
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the Constitution does not categorically define what is covered by the education sector, but Lacson pointed out that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s budget message in the 2026 proposed national budget indicated that the education sector’s budget covers only the DepEd, SUCs, CHED, and TESDA.
He said the DBM should be “consistent next time” and not allow a repeat of what happened in the 2025 national budget, stressing that a closer coordination should be in place between the Legislature and the Executive branches, especially during the bicameral conference committee meetings where major realignments occur.
“Watch the progress of the budget bill, especially at the bicameral conference committee. We all know that is where the biggest realignments occur,” he said.
Lacson also suggested that the President veto appropriations that exceed the budget for the education sector should Congress again mangle the 2026 spending measure.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, said that initially, said a review of the 2026 NEP showed a number of questionable items, among them the existence of different project titles with the same proposed allocations.
“(An) example, there is a project that has already been finished in 2025 but is still in the 2026 [proposed budget]. Why are there still questionable items if they have already passed local government units and consultations with the Executive department have been made?)” he said. – With Wendell Vigilia and Raymond Africa
