Vice Pres. Sara Duterte Speaks on 2026 Proposed National Budget amid Congress Deliberations
SARA DUTERTE – The Vice President expressed her belief that the President should have a control on the 2026 proposed national budget.
The Senate and the House of Representatives are currently in the process of deliberating the 2026 proposed national budget amounting to P6.793 trillion. The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has submitted the National Expenditure Program or NEP to the House over a week ago.
Following the submission of the NEP to the House, Pres. Bongbong Marcos urged the Congress to “swiftly enact” the 2026 proposed national budget. According to him, the country is on the tracks with its prosperity agenda and the Philippines can allegedly be a leader among nations.
The office of the President is seeking for a budget of P27.362 billion for 2026 — quite far from the P15.9 billion budget approved for the OP this year. Also, Marcos Jr.’s office is poised to get the lion’s share in the proposed Confidential and Intelligence Funds for 2026.
According to Marcos Jr., the following key departments of the Philippine government are proposed to be given the following budget allocation for next year:
- 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
With regards to the CIF, Pres. Bongbong Marcos’ office is proposed to get the biggest confidential and intel funds amounting to P4.5 billion from the P10.77-billion proposed CIF for next year. The office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte did not request for confidential and intel funds.
In fact, ahead of the budget talks of the Congress, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte already expressed her belief that her office’s P903-million proposed budget for 2026 will allegedly suffer from budget cuts citing the Marcos administration. She previously claimed that she did not ask for a bigger budget as she does not expect it to be approved since she is not an ally.
Recently, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte expressed her belief on the proposed 2026 national budget amid the Congress’ budget deliberations. According to the Vice President, the President should have a control on the said proposed fund.
“Dapat konrolado ng President ‘yung budget. Dapat kung ano ‘yung lumalabas sa budgeting system from the regional development councils paakyat sa national development council paakyat sa Cabinet level at kung ano ‘yung napag-usapan based on development plans, ‘yun ang nasusunod,” the Vice President said.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte is currently in The Hague, Netherlands. Based on a report on Abante, she is set to fly to Japan and return to The Hague for the confirmation of charges of former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte. On the proposed 2026 national budget, the Vice President claimed that the President should not allow the legislators to make amendments on the proposed fund allocations.
“Dapat hindi pumapayag ang Pangulo na pakialaman ng legislators ang budget,” she said.
Previously, despite the House of Representatives’ proposed budget dropping by P16.8 billion from its 2025 approved budget and the emphasis of Senate Pres. Chiz Escudero on the Congress having the “power of the purse”, presidential cousin and House Speaker Martin Romualdez said the House will scrutinize the 2026 proposed national budget not as adversaries of the government but as allies.