President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vetoed between P60 billion and P80 billion under this year’s P6.326 trillion budget because it did not align with the administration’s priorities, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto told lawmakers yesterday.
Recto made the statement during the Development Budget Coordination Committee Committee’s (DBCC) briefing on the proposed P6.793 trillion proposed national budget for 2026.
“There is a saying, the Executive proposes (the budget), Congress disposes of the budget, and the Executive implements the budget. Having said that, the President, in his wisdom, his first response was to veto a few portions in the (2025) budget,” he told the House Committee on Appropriations on the questioning of Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice.
“Now, during the time of implementation of the (2025) budget, the President has decided not to release the appropriations. And why is that? Because it may not be consistent with the Philippine Development Plan of his administration,” Recto, a former longtime congressman and senator, said.
The DBCC, which the Department of Budget and Management leads, is composed of the Departments of Finance, Economy, Planning and Development, Office of the President, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as adviser.
The body is responsible for reviewing and recommending macroeconomic targets, revenue forecasts, borrowing levels, aggregate spending limits, and expenditure priorities to the President and Cabinet.
Recto said that if there are double entries in a particular project under the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA), the President is not bound to release such appropriation.
“At any given time, during budget execution, the President can withhold releases of the budget if it is not consistent with the priorities of his administration. And as of today, based on my understanding, roughly P60 to P80 billion has still been withheld (by the President),” he said.
Recto tackled the vetoed amounts after Erice said that lawmakers of the 19th Congress made “unprecedented” cuts in the 2025 budget during the bicameral conference deliberations, where congressmen and senators iron out differences in their respective versions of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB).
Erice said the bicameral panel cut a total of P373 billion from the 2025 budget and diverted these to other items, either augmenting existing items or funding new ones,
The items completely defunded were placed in unprogrammed funds.
The lawmaker did not particularly identify where the bulk of the funds went to, but Navotas City Rep. Tobias Tiangco earlier said the President was obviously alluding to lawmakers when he said that those who are profiting from public works projects should be ashamed of themselves because of the recent massive flooding, especially in Metro Manila.
“Were you aware of this? I ask because such a magnitude of diversion or deduction significantly undermines the dev plan in the NEP (National Expenditure Program),” Erice asked the DBCC.
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said she was not aware of the amendments made by lawmakers, but Erice said the Chief Executive surely consulted with her before he vetoed P26 billion out of the P373 billion realignments.
“The President only vetoed P26 billion, too small compared to the huge amendments (made by lawmakers). Does it mean that it will alter the development plan or the President’s budget?” Erice asked in Filipino.
He noted that since 2023, the changes that Congress has made to the annual national budget have reached at least a trillion, more than P200 in 2023, at least 400 billion in 2024 and P373 billion in 2025.8.
