MANILA, Philippines – After more than a week’s delay in order to “regain control” of his government’s spending program, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday, December 30, signed the P6.326-trillion national budget for 2025. 

The 2025 budget is lower than the P6.352 trillion budget that the national government initially submitted to Congress as Marcos vetoed P194 billion worth of line items that he deemed “inconsistent with the administration’s priority programs.”

In his speech, Marcos said the Executive listened to the public’s concerns over the version of the budget bill submitted by Congress to Malacañang, specifically items “that are not consistent with the country’s development plans and the needs of the people.”

“We take our role as stewards of our taxpayers’ money seriously. And for this reason, after an exhaustive and thorough review, we have directly vetoed over P194 billion worth of line items that are not consistent with our priorities,” he announced.

The vetoed line items are P26.065 billion worth of projects under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and P168.240 billion allocated under “Unprogrammed Appropriations.” 

Marcos noted that Unprogrammed Appropriations under the Congress-approved budget bill increased by 300%.

Marcos also said that there will be “conditional implementation of certain items” to ensure they are implemented “under the stated and authorized purpose.”

In line with this, he said, they were “compelled to subject the implementation of the Ayuda sa Kapos ng Kita Program or AKAP to the convergence program of the DSWD, DOLE, and NEDA.”

AKAP, a program under the DSWD, provides a one-time cash assistance of up to P5,000 to middle-class workers. It is the pet cash aid project of Marcos’ cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez.

“This way we ensure that its implementation will be strategic leading to the long-term improvement of the lives of qualified beneficiaries, while guarding against misuse, and duplication, and fragmented benefits,” Marcos said.

“This approach is anchored on a simple yet profound truth: The appropriation of public funds must not break the public trust,” Marcos added.

The President cited these moves as proof that his government listens to the people.

“Sa sambayanang Pilipino, nakikinig po kami sa inyo,” he said in his speech, referring to the vetoed items. (To the Filipino people, we are listening to you.)

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said in a press briefing with other economic managers after the signing ceremony in Malacañang’s Heroes Hall that the Department of Social Welfare and Development, National Economic and Development Authority, and the Department of Labor and Employment will have to first establish guidelines before the budget for AKAP is released. 

The budget bill was supposed to be signed on December 20, but Marcos deferred this to December 30 after various groups demanded “corrective measures” in the version submitted by Congress. In the past two years, Marcos signed the budget bill over a week earlier.

Budget advocates, sectoral groups, and former government officials lambasted the realignments, describing them as “problematic priorities,”  that were apparently made under the bicameral conference committee or the bicam.

It’s under the bicam where, traditionally, controversial decisions are made — during closed door meetings, legislators from the House and the Senate reconcile their respective versions of the budget. In the past, this has sometimes meant surprise changes to the budget.

Among the most controversial changes include the removal of over P10 billion for the Department of Education’s computerization program, a P373 billion increase in unprogrammed appropriations, and zero funding towards the subsidy of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

Marcos had promised that priority measures would be funded in 2025, and that the budget as reworked by his economic team would have “stronger safeguards on spending for the different projects.” – Rappler.com