DBM: Passage of proposed P6.7-trillion 2026 budget still on schedule

The Department of Budget (DBM) on Tuesday expressed confidence that the proposed P6.793-trillion budget for 2026 will be passed into law within schedule or before the end of this year, allaying concerns of having a reenacted budget.

At the sidelines of the Philippine Conference on Women, Peace & Security in Pasay City, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman told reporters that based on the calendars from both chambers of Congress concerning the deliberations on the proposed 2026 budget, “We are still on schedule.”

Pangandaman also brushed off concerns of a reenacted budget next year, stating that the House of Representative-approved version of the General Appropriations Bill and the Senate’s ongoing deliberations is “still consistent” with the President’s National Expenditure Program (NEP).

Early this month, the House approved its version of the proposed P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026 under House Bill 4058, with realignments that increased allocations to the education sector to an unprecedented P1.28 trillion. 

The House version realigned the entire P255 billion of the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) initial proposed budget for locally-funded flood control projects after President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. called out anomalous flood control projects.

Pangandaman said the changes made in the proposed budget of the DPWH are “welcome… as this is part of the process.”

Nevertheless, she said that excluding the changes in the DPWH’s proposed budget, the resulting budget bills from the House and Senate are still consistent with the NEP.

On Monday, the Senate panel on finance approved the DPWH’s fiscal year 2026 proposed budget but was reduced to P625.78 billion from the NEP version of P881.31 billion after the removal of locally funded flood control projects amid the revelations of substandard or ghost projects.

Pangandaman earlier cautioned against a reenacted budget next year, saying it would hurt the economy. 

The DBM defines a reenacted budget as a situation where the previous year’s General Appropriations Act (GAA) is extended and remains in effect for a preceding year until such time Congress passed a budget bill into law.

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. earlier ordered a sweeping review of the proposed 2026 DPWH budget to cleanse it of unmeritorious provisions.

In his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA), Marcos warned that the government would operate under a reenacted budget in 2026, warning that he will veto a proposed budget bill that will not be in harmony with his administration’s programs and priorities.

Pangandaman said the President may veto the budget bill “if masyado lumihis sa NEP (if it veers away too much from the NEP).”

The Budget chief expressed confidence that Marcos will not veto the 2026 budget, citing “the they are opening the [bicam] budget deliberations.”

The President earlier said that the Bicameral Conference Committee meeting for the national budget would be livestreamed after he discussed the matter with Senate President Vicente Sotto III and House Speaker Faustino "Bojie" Dy III. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News