MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed into law on Monday, December 30, a 2025 budget that was stripped of over P194 billion in line items after a bicameral congressional committee and the 19th Congress submitted a budget far from the one the executive had proposed in July 2024.

Marcos was originally set to sign the General Appropriations Act into law on December 20, but this was pushed back amid criticism over cuts and additions made to the budget after the closed-door bicam.

The President himself bemoaned the huge difference between the budget submitted to the Congress — the National Expenditure Program (NEP) — and the version that made it to his desk after both chambers of Congress approved the budget separately, then reconciled their versions through the bicam.

“There were calls to veto the entire budget and to revert to a reenacted one. However, this is not an option that we can afford. A reenacted budget will set us back, delay our vital programs, jeopardize targets for economic growth, including our goals of achieving single-digit poverty levels, and upper-middle-income status,” Marcos said in a speech shortly after signing the budget.

“However, the executive branch is one with the people in raising concerns over appropriations that are not consistent with the country’s development plan and responsive to the needs of the people. After all, it is our people whom we serve,” he added.

According to a handout from the Department of Budget and Management, the following sectors or departments get the biggest allocations in the 2025 budget:

The Constitution compels the government to “assign the highest budgetary priority to education” — a point that experts and advocates cautioned was ignored by the 19th Congress’ version of the 2025 budget before Marcos’ veto.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, among a handful of Cabinet officials who were called upon when Malacañang sought to “regain control” of the government’s spending program, said he was “confident” the 2025 budget will not encounter legal challenges.

“But we cannot prevent if there will be challenges that will be mounted by any quarter who might still find this present budget as approved worthy of the challenge…. But I am confident that we worked very hard on this and that our efforts will be validated,” he told a press conference shortly after the signing of the budget in Malacañang.

As is almost always the case, the devil is in the details. A handout from the Palace summarizing the departments and sectors that will get the most in the 2025 budget indicates that the allocations for the following departments, agencies, and educational institutions were counted towards the education sector:

• Department of Education
• Commission on Higher Education
• State universities and colleges
• Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
• Local Government Academy
• Philippine National Police Academy
• Philippine Public Safety College
• National Defense College of the Philippines
• Philippine Military Academy
• Philippine Science High School System
• Science Education Institute

Funds for education-related infrastructure under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) as well as scheduled salary increases for education sector personnel are also counted towards the sector’s total allocation. These salary increases account for P60.59 million.

The tally for the DPWH, meanwhile, excludes infrastructure “attributed to Education, Health, Defense, Peace & Order, Tourism, and Agriculture, etc.” but also includes the department’s scheduled salary increases for its personnel. – Rappler.com