Palace: Funds withheld by Marcos were for Congress-inserted projects

The P60 billion to P80 billion worth of funds withheld by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in the then-proposed P6.352-trillion national budget for 2025 was for infrastructure projects that were inserted by Congress.

This was reported by Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro during a briefing on Wednesday.

"Ayon po sa DBM (Department of Budget and Management), karamihan po dito ay mga infrastructure po ng DPWH na karamihan po ay inserted po by the Congress. So iyon lang po ang ibinigay sa ating impormasyon ng DBM," Castro said.

(According to the DBM, most of these were infrastructure projects of DPWH that were inserted by Congress. That's the only information given by the DBM.) 

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto conveyed Monday the President's decision during the questioning of Caloocan City Representative Edgar Erice at the House budget deliberations.

To recall, Erice asked the economic team how the administration dealt with the fact that P375 billion worth of programmed, meaning funded budget items under the proposed 2025 budget of the Executive, was cut by Congress and placed under the unprogrammed fund.

Recto said Marcos had withheld the release of the billion funds as the budget items were not aligned with the administration’s priorities.

"If the President sees, for example, that there are double entries in a particular project, he's not bound to release this appropriation," Recto had said.

An unprogrammed fund is for budget items whose funding are dependent on tax collection exceeding targets and other special laws. — VDV, GMA Integrated News