The House of Representatives on Monday approved on third and final reading the proposed national budget for 2026 amounting to P6.793 trillion.
With 287 lawmakers voting in favor of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), House Bill No. 4058 was given the green light with minor reductions to unprogrammed appropriations (UA), reported Phil Star.
12 legislators voted against it, while two abstained.
HB No. 10800 overcame its second reading on October 10 following the adoption of amendments to cut the budget of the Office of the Vice President from P902.8 million to P156 million. At the same time, they rejected a proposal to scrap the P250-million unprogrammed appropriations.
House Appropriations chair and Nueva Ecija first district Representative Mikaela Suansing said that while the subcommittee had already removed P35 billion worth of infrastructure projects from the UA, they cannot afford to scrap contingency funding for foreign-assisted projects.
She added that this budget cycle is “unprecedented” and that they “needed to work very, very hard” to pass the budget on time “despite all the complexities” that they needed to navigate in the past two months.
House Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy, III meanwhile described the 2026 budget as a reflection of the government’s “united purpose and focused on delivering tangible results for the Filipino people.”
“We responded to the President’s call to strengthen the primary sectors of our society, especially education, health and social welfare,” Dy said, noting that the education sector received the largest cut of the budget at P1.281 trillion, or equivalent to 4.1% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
In a Facebook reel, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) reiterated that the proposed 2026 budget highlights its “Agenda for Prosperity: Nurturing Future-Ready Generations to Achieve the Full Potential of the Nation.”
A briefer created by the agency also streamlined the budget’s aim to “sustain the country’s economic growth momentum while strengthening our commitment to investing in the Filipino people,” while fulfilling their dream of a “Bagong Pilipinas.”
Aside from education, public works, health, defense, interior and local government, agriculture, social welfare, transportation, judiciary, and labor and employment were given priority by the budget.
