Bam Aquino: Filipino youth wins with 2026 education budget

The signing of the 2026 national budget will ensure that vital education programs, such as the construction of classrooms and the implementation of the school-based feeding program, will be adequately funded and properly implemented, Senator Bam Aquino said Monday,

The P6.793-trillion General Appropriations Act, signed by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Monday, allocates P1.34 trillion to education, considered the largest in the country’s history.

The amount includes P68 billion for the construction of new classrooms; P25.6 billion for the expansion of the School-Based Feeding Program; and P67 billion for the implementation of the Free College Law.

“Panalo ang kabataang Pilipino ngayong naaprubahan na ang 2026 national budget. Sa pamamagitan nito, mapopondohan na at maipatutupad nang tama ang mga mahahalagang programang makatutulong upang mapalakas at mapabuti ang sektor ng edukasyon,” Aquino, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, said in a statement.

(The Filipino youth wins now that the 2026 national budget has been approved. Through this, vital programs that will help to strengthen and improve the education sector will be properly funded and implemented.)

Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DepDev) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan also pointed out that the P1.34-trillion allocation for education enables the Philippines to meet UNESCO’s benchmark of allocating at least 4% of the gross domestic product (GDP) for the first time.

In the signing of the 2026 budget, Marcos said that the momentum in education reform, health protection, food security, social security, and job creation would be sustained.

Aside from the construction of classrooms nationwide, the President said that the P1.34 trillion education budget would fund the creation of teaching and non-teaching plantilla positions in public schools, as well as the promotion or reclassification of teachers. — BM, GMA Integrated News