MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday signed the P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026 but vetoed seven of 10 unprogrammed appropriations (UAs), cutting P92.5 billion from the P243.4 billion originally approved by Congress.
The veto reduced total UAs in the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA) to P150.9 billion, the lowest level since 2019.
Marcos said the move was aimed at limiting unprogrammed funds to “the absolute bare minimum” and preventing their misuse as discretionary spending.
“Let me be clear: The unprogrammed appropriations are not blank checks. We will not allow the unprogrammed appropriations to be misused or treated as a backdoor for discretionary spending,” the President said in his speech after signing Republic Act No. 12314.
Vetoed items
The President vetoed the following UA items:
- Budgetary support for government-owned and -controlled corporations — P6.895 billion
- Prior years’ local government unit shares — P14.623 million
- Payment of personnel services requirements — P43.245 billion
- CARS Program (Automotive Industry Support) — P4.32 billion
- RACE Program (Automotive Industry Competitiveness) — P250 million
- Insurance of government assets and interests — P2 billion
- Government counterpart for certain foreign-assisted projects — P35.77 billion
He retained three UA items: P97.306 billion for support to foreign-assisted projects, P3.6 billion for the Program on Risk Management, and P50 billion for the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program.
Marcos said the vetoes were meant “to rebuild public trust in the budget process” and ensure that public funds are spent strictly in the national interest.
Assurances on salaries, projects
The President assured government workers that scheduled benefit increases would not be affected, noting that these were already covered by programmed appropriations with definite funding.
He also explained that counterpart funding for ongoing foreign-assisted projects had already been lodged under the budgets of concerned agencies, making the vetoed UA allocation unnecessary.
Insurance for government assets, he said, may continue to be funded using agency budgets or augmented by other available sources as determined by the Department of Budget and Management.
UA controversy continues
Unprogrammed appropriations in the 2026 budget are significantly lower than the P363 billion approved in 2025. The highest UA allocation was recorded in the 2023 GAA at P807 billion.
Malacañang initially proposed P250 billion in UAs in the National Expenditure Program. While the House cut this to P243.2 billion and the Senate further reduced it to P174.5 billion, the bicameral conference committee restored the amount to P243.4 billion.
House Senior Deputy Minority Leader Edgar Erice reiterated plans to petition the Supreme Court to strike down UAs as unconstitutional, citing a separate opinion in a recent ruling on the PhilHealth fund transfer that questioned the legality of unprogrammed appropriations.
Sectoral allocations
Marcos said the 2026 budget represents the administration’s “unprecedented investment in the Filipino people,” emphasizing safeguards against corruption and the absence of pork barrel funds.
Education received the largest allocation at P1.345 trillion, equivalent to 4.36 percent of gross domestic product, meeting the United Nations benchmark for education spending. The budget will fund nearly 33,000 teaching and 32,000 non-teaching positions and the construction of almost 25,000 classrooms nationwide.
Public works ranked second with P530.9 billion, despite a sharp reduction following the removal of locally funded flood control projects amid corruption concerns.
Health ranked third at P448.125 billion, its highest allocation to date. Marcos said P1 billion was allotted for the Department of Health’s zero-balance billing program and confirmed compliance with the Supreme Court order restoring P60 billion to PhilHealth.
The full text of the 2026 GAA has yet to be uploaded on the DBM website.
Marcos vowed that “every peso will reach the intended beneficiaries without patronage.”