Palace Press Officer Claire Castro in a press briefing with ARTA on May 5, 2026. Video grab from RTVM’s livestream/Facebook.
Forecast recovery in the local construction sector is expected to provide a much-needed boost to the country’s economic growth in the second half of the year, according to Palace press officer and Presidential Communications Office undersecretary Clarissa ‘Claire’ Castro-Seechung.
The good news came following a directive from President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. to restart government infrastructure projects after weak spending dragged on the economy in the first six months of the year due to budgetary constraints triggered by probes on corruption.
Budget assistant secretary Romeo Balanquit cited that public construction is expected to become a significant contributor to economic growth beginning in the third quarter as government agencies accelerate the use of infrastructure funds released in recent months.
“I am really very confident that third quarter public construction would be really contributory now to the GDP (gross domestic product),” Balanquit enthused during a press briefing.
The outlook comes after public construction contracted by 32.4 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, contributing to a 14.8-percent decline in overall construction and a 9.2-percent contraction in gross capital formation, or investment.
“The sharp decline in construction was a major drag on the Philippine economy, which grew by only 2.3 percent in the April-to-June period,” the budget official pointed out.
“The second-quarter result followed growth of 2.8 percent in the first quarter and brought first-half economic growth to just 2.6 percent—below the government’s 3.5- to 4.5-percent target,” he added.