Marcos signs P6.793-trillion 2026 budget

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signs the 2026 national budget into law on Monday, January 5.

The 2026 budget is the first under Marcos to be signed this late. Marcos typically signed budget bills into law before the previous fiscal year’s end.

The approval of this year’s budget is backdropped by increased scrutiny and outcry over billions in pesos that were pocketed through government projects, many of them related to flood control, that were substandard or non-existent.

Acting Budget Secretary Rolando Toledo said the 2026 budget “underscores the Marcos Jr. administration’s commitment to place the Filipino people at the center of the country’s growth by prioritizing key sectors that lay the foundation for inclusive development.”

Budget watchdogs earlier called on Marcos to act on P633 billion in “pork” items in 2026 budget, including P243 billion in “shadow pork” items or unprogrammed appropriations.

Toledo, in a press statement ahead of the national budget signing, said “several items under Unprogrammed Appropriations have been scrapped from the 2026 national budget as a result of the President’s decision to exercise veto powers” without going into specifics. – Rappler.com