2026 budget under Palace review, will be signed first week of January

MANILA, Philippines – Acting Executive Secretary Ralph Recto confirmed on Wednesday, December 24, that the budget for 2026 will be signed by the President in the first week of January yet.

This means the Philippine government will be operating on a reenacted 2025 budget for at least the first few days of the new year. 

Recto told Malacañang reporters in a text message that the budget, which was approved by the congressional bicameral conference committee early morning of December 18, would be signed by the first week of January.

The committee, composed of members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, reconciled differences in both chambers’ version of the proposed budget. 

Recto earlier told Business World that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is expected to sign the budget by January 5, 2026. 

This would be the first time in Marcos’ presidency that a budget has to be reenacted. The 2026 budget would be the fourth one to bear his signature. 

President to review the budget over the holidays

Acting Communications Secretary Dave Gomez had earlier told reporters that Marcos would be “spending the holidays working.” 

“As early as now, the President is already mobilizing his team to facilitate the immediate review of all amounts and corresponding provisions agreed in the bi-cam and trace the changes made from the originally submitted National Expenditure Program,” Gomez said on December 23. 

“This thorough review will ensure that taxpayers’ money will be put to good use, contributing to the attainment of societal goals that will be felt by all Filipinos, consistent with his pronouncement in the last State of the Nation Address (SONA),” he added. 

Gomez’ deputy, Palace press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro previously said in a briefing on December 17 that the Palace was confident the budget would be signed before year’s end. 

Senate President Vicente Sotto III, an ally of Marcos, earlier floated the possibility of a reenacted budget to open 2026. Sotto also noted that there would be “no problem” if the first few days of the year would operate on the 2025 budget. 

Budgets are reenacted if a new budget for the government is not signed into law in time, or before the new year begins. Reenacted budgets — if they are in place for a long time — means crucial  projects and programs slated for that year must operate on the previous year’s budget or cannot begin at all, if they’re new items. 

In 2019, former president Rodrigo Duterte’s administration operated on a reenacted budget for four months. 

In the waning months of 2024, Marcos and his economic team, which inluded then-finance chief Recto, scrambled to review the General Appropriations Bill for 2025 in order for the administration to “regain control” of its spending program. Marcos signed the bill into law on December 30. 

That same budget would turn out to be a controversial one, in the wake of exposé after exposé — triggered by Marcos’ SONA — on insertions and corruption connected to substandard or non-existent government flood control projects.  

In the months since the SONA, investigations, including those by Rappler, have revealed possible conflicts of interest across government — to include relatives, friends, and allies of Duterte and Marcos — related to infrastructure projects. 

It’s under this political environment that pressure has mounted for both the executive and legislative to be more transparent in the budget process. Several Marcos appointees, including those who helped finalize the 2025 budget, have since been removed from their post, including former executive secretary Lucas Bersamin and former budget chief Amenah Pangandaman. 

For the first time ever, bicam proceedings were made open to the public via live streaming. Still, last-minute lobbying by agencies plagued the joint committee. The bicam also approved P243 billion in unprogrammed appropriations and higher amounts for social welfare aid as well as medical assistance labeled by critics as the “new pork.” – Rappler.com