Photo source: Radio Television Malacañang (RTVM)
Malacañang urged Congress, particularly the Senate, to hasten deliberations on the 2026 national budget to avoid operating under a reenacted 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), which it described as the most corrupt in history.
“They should be speeding up their work,” Palace press officer Claire Castro said at a briefing on Tuesday.
“We all know that the President does not want a reenacted budget… Hopefully, we can speed things up,” she added.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier vowed that the 2026 GAA would be free of corruption, citing alleged “graft-riddled insertions, duplicate project entries, and misallocation” in the 2025 budget.
As part of his reform measures, Marcos ordered zero allocation for locally funded flood control projects under the Department of Public Works and Highways next year.
The move created fiscal space amounting to P255.5 billion, which will be realigned to other agencies for social programs.
Marcos earlier warned he would not sign any GAA that tolerates fund misuse or fails to align with the administration’s priorities.
He also cautioned that the government could be forced to operate under a reenacted 2025 budget of P6.326 trillion if Congress submits an unacceptable spending bill.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) submitted the proposed 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP) worth P6.793 trillion to Congress on Aug. 13.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said the Senate is targeting Dec. 29 for the signing of the 2026 GAA, with bicameral deliberations expected to settle contentious items such as disaster rehabilitation funding, AFP modernization, and P249 billion in unprogrammed appropriations.