Palace Speaks on Christmas Holidays of Marcos Jr. amid Budget Process
MARCOS JR. – The Palace said the President will spend the Christmas Holidays working, mainly reviewing the P6.7-trillion national budget for 2026.
Previously, President Bongbong Marcos admitted that his Christmas wish is a “good budget” for the country for 2026. The National Expenditure Program or NEP crafted by the executive department proposed for a P6.7-trillion budget for next year.
Out of the proposed budget for next year, the Office of the President gets the lion’s share from the proposed confidential and intelligence funds for 2026. The office of Marcos Jr. is poised to get P4.5 billion from the P10-billion proposed CIF for next year.
For 2026, the Office of the President asked for a P27.3 billion budget which was approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The said amount is 72% higher from the office’s 2025 budget of P15.84 billion.
The P27.3 billion budget sought by the office of Marcos Jr. for 2026 is inclusive of the proposed P17 billion budget for the country’s hosting of the ASEAN, the P4.5 billion CIF, and the proposed P1 billion budget for the President’s local and foreign trips.
The Bicameral Conference Committee has approved the proposed 2026 national budget amounting to P6.7-trillion. Recently, Malacañang claimed that Marcos Jr. will work on the Christmas holidays most especially in the review of the proposed budget for next year.
“The President will be spending the holidays working. As early as now, the President is already mobilizing his team to facilitate the immediate review of all amounts and corresponding provisions agreed in the bicam and trace the changes made from the originally submitted National Expenditure Program (NEP),” Presidential Communications Office Secretary Dave Gomez said.
Furthermore, based on a report on GMA News, Gomez also said that the review of the bicam-approved budget is to ensure that the money of the taxpayers “will be put to good use” that is aligned with the vow of Marcos Jr. in his latest State of the Nation Address or SONA.
Currently, the Philippines is surrounded by several issue including the supposed multi-billion flood control corruption in the country. Recently, Malacañang spoke on the vow of Marcos Jr. that more flood control culprits will be jailed before Christmas.