House Appropriations Panel Approves Proposed National Budget of PH for 2026
Philippines’ proposed national budget for 2026 amounting to P6.7 trillion was approved by the House of Representatives’ Appropriations panel.
Amid the flood control mess, there is an upcoming budget deliberations of the proposed budget of the Philippine government for 2026. Based on the National Expenditure Program or NEP crafted by the executive department, there is a request of P6.7 trillion budget for next year. The NEP was submitted to the House of Representatives when it was still under the leadership of former House Speaker and Leyte Representative Martin Romualdez.
Previously, there were claims that the proposed national budget for the Philippines in 2026 allegedly has some items that request budget appropriations for projects that have already been completed. It was followed by President Bongbong Marcos asking the Congress to really clean out the budget proposal properly.
Amid the flood control mess in the Philippines, the President also ordered a sweeping review of the proposed budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways for 2026. The DPWH became the center of criticisms amid the alleged multi-billion flood control scam that supposedly involved some officials of the agency and the government.
Following the review, the DPWH cut its proposed budget by P255 billion and asked the authorities over the matter to reallocate the said funds to other sectors. Based on a report on GMA News, the proposed P6.7 trillion national budget of the Philippines for 2026 earned the approved of the House Appropriations panel.
Furthermore, based on the report, aside from approving the proposed national budget of the country for next year, the House Appropriations panel also nodded towards the realignment of the P255 billion cut from the DPWH’s proposed budget as well as the P60-billion subsidy to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation or PhilHealth.
The P255 billion cut from the proposed flood control funds of the DPWH is approved to be reallocated to the following:
- P32.6 billion for Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations
- P8.9 billion for Farm-to-Market Roads
- P14.82 billion for Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD)
- P7 billion for the Presidential Assistance to Farmers and Fisherfolk (P7,000 per beneficiary)
- P26.73 billion for Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients Program
- P2.69 billion for Tulong Dunong Program
- P2.4 billion for Deep Water Ports for Agri-Industrial Product
- P1. 5 billion for Communal Irrigation System – Repair and Restoration of
Pump Irrigation
- P1.5 billion for Cold Storage
- P121 million for the Expansion of the Cybercrime Response Center (CRC)
- P2 billion for Construction/ Rehabilitation/ Improvement of Fish Ports
- P627.5 million additional funding for the Philippine Gradiometry and Seismic Survey Project (PGSSP)
- P4.076 billion for Solar Powered Irrigation Program
- P1 billion National Soil Health Program
- P1.4 billion for Massive Coconut Planting Program
- P6.6 billion for Tertiary Education Subsidy
- P2.4 billion for completion of legacy hospitals such as National Kidney and Transplant institute, Philippine Cancer Center, Philippine Children’s Medical Center, among others.
- P1 billion for the National Broadband Program
- P1 billion for the Crop Insurance Program
- P2.5 billion for the Cybersecurity Information Infrastructure Development and Management
- P35 million to support the Department of Finance’s mandate under Republic Act No. 12022, or the Anti- Agricultural Sabotage Act
- P1.5 billion for National Irrigation System – Repair and Restoration of New
Irrigation Systems
- P30.5 million for the Expansion of the Cybercrime Complaint Center (C3)
- P1.3 billion for Enhancing Sugar Production Project/Farm-to Mill Road
- P24.9 million for the Establishment of the Threat Monitoring Center (TMC)
- P79.46 million for the funding requirements for the implementation of Konektadong Pinoy Act
- P10 million for confidential fund of the Bureau of Internal Revenue
- P10 million for the confidential fund of the Bureau of Customs, among others.