Sen. Ping Lacson Proposes Full Adoption of NEP for 2026 Proposed Budget
PING LACSON – The Senator suggested adopting the 2026 proposed budget of the executive department in full calling it an “experiment”.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has turned over the P6.79-trillion proposed budget for 2026 to the House of Representatives. The budget talks are held in the Senate and in the House of Representatives.
Following the DBM submitting the NEP for the 2026 proposed budget, Pres. Bongbong Marcos called on the Congress to “swiftly enact” the 2026 proposed budget. He also called for cooperation with the Senate and the House to fulfill the goal of a “Bagong Pilipinas”.
Based on the NEP, Marcos Jr.’s office is proposed to be given P27.362 billion. This year’s proposed fund is several billions bigger compared to the P15.9 billion budget approved for 2025.
Included in the total budget proposed for the Office of the President is the P1-billion proposed budget for the local and foreign trips of Pres. Bongbong Marcos in 2026. Malacañang defended the request of the President’s office saying that Marcos Jr. really visits local communities and also travels abroad and brings home huge investments.
According to Pres. Bongbong Marcos, the Philippines can be a leader among the nations and the country is on the track with its “Agenda for Prosperity”. Under the 2026 proposed budget, the proposed Confidential and Intelligence funds is at P10.77 billion.
The office of Pres. Bongbong Marcos is poised to get the biggest confidential and intel funds for 2026. Here are the proposed confidential and intel funds for next year:
- Office of the President — P4.5 billion
- Department of National Defense — P1.848 billion CIF
- Other executive offices including the Anti-Money Laundering Council, National Security Council, and the Philippine National Police — P2.292 billion CIF
With regards to the proposed budget for the different key departments in the government for next year, here are the proposed funds:
- Department of Education (DepEd) — P928.5 billion
- Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) — P881.3 billion
- Department of Health (DOH) — P320.5 billion
- Department of National Defense (DND) — P299.3 billion
- Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) — P287.5 billion
- Department of Agriculture (DA) — P239.2 billion
- Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) — P227.0 billion
- Department of Transportation (DOTr) — P197.3 billion
- Judiciary Department — P67.9 billion
- Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) — P55.2 billion
Recently, Sen. Ping Lacson spoke about the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for the proposed P6.79-trillion budget for 2026. Based on a report on ABS-CBN News, the Senator pushes for an “experiment” by approving the NEP in full.
According to Sen. Ping Lacson, with the full adoption of the National Expenditure Program, it will be on the executive department in case a problem will arise due to the spending plan. He stressed that can be the change which may be retracted in the future.
“For a change, why not have the Senate adopt the NEP so that if there will be problems in implementing projects in 2026, it will be on the executive department,” the lawmaker said.
Based on the report, Sen. Ping Lacson further said that both the Senate and the House of Representatives may adopt the proposed 2026 budget in full and then guard the implementation of the projects stated in the NEP. According to him, he is sure that the concerned agencies have carefully studied the items in the proposed spending plan for next year.
“This will be a one-year experiment. If it fails, we go back to the realignment,” the Senator said.
Previously, during the kickoff of the budget talks, presidential cousin and House Speaker Martin Romualdez said they will scrutinize the proposed 2026 budget as “allies” and not as an adversaries of the executive department.