Jamaine Punzalan

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers a statement August 8, 2025, before returning to the Philippines.  Noel Pabalate, PPA pool/File

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MARCOS

Katrina Domingo

RG Cruz

ABS-CBN News

<div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/176653895653020250808-marcos-india-kapihan-NP15.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers a statement August 8, 2025, before returning to the Philippines.  Noel Pabalate, PPA pool/File</span></span></span></div><p>MANILA (<strong>UPDATED</strong>) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is set to sign the Philippines’ P6.793-trillion budget for next year in the “first week of January,” about a week after the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) expires, Executive Secretary Ralph Recto confirmed on Wednesday.</p><p>The move means that the Philippines will have a re-enacted budget several days as the law mandates the government to re-use its last approved national budget until a new spending bill is signed into law.</p><p>“First week of January,” Recto told Palace reporters when asked when the President intended to sign the new national budget into law.</p><p>After several days of debate and deadlock in the bicameral conference committee over <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/12/14/dizon-faces-bicam-asks-lawmakers-to-empower-dpwh-to-cut-costs-of-materials-1939">allocations for the Department of Public Works and Highways</a>, Congress said that it seeks to ratify the 2026 spending plan on December 29, which is just 2 days before the current national budget expires.</p><p>Several House minority members are expected to vote against the passage of the 2026 national budget due to “more than P200-billion” in unprogrammed funds, Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice earlier said. </p><div><a class="fr-strong fr-green" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/12/18/house-lawmakers-slam-pork-in-bicam-approved-2026-budget-1713">House lawmakers slam &#x27;pork,&#x27; unprogrammed appropriations in bicam-approved 2026 budget</a></div><p>“Unprogrammed funds are unconstitutional,” Erice said, citing a recent opinion from the Supreme Court.</p><p>“Dapat yung budget of expenditures ng gobyerno, dapat may katapat na source of revenue. Kumbaga sa budget ng isang pamilya, bakit ka bibili ng isang bagay na wala pa namang pagkukunan na sahod o kita?” he told ANC’s Headstart.</p><p>“If they will insist on putting the unprogrammed funds in the national budget and if the President signs it, I will have no recourse but to go to the Supreme Court and question the presence of the unprogrammed funds under the 2026 GAA,” he said.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/12/22/house-speaker-says-bicam-proposed-2026-national-budget-has-no-insertions-1456">House Speaker says bicam-proposed 2026 national budget has no insertions</a></div><p>In the 2024 and 2025 budgets, the House and Senate leaderships placed several big ticket projects — such as the Metro Manila subway and the Philippine National Railway elevated railway — under unprogrammed funds and gave their original allocations to flood control projects, Erice said.</p><p>Earlier this week, Malacañang said that Marcos has begun “mobilizing his team to facilitate the immediate review” of the spending plan that the <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/12/18/historic-open-budget-bicam-concluded-what-comes-next-0736">bicameral conference committee</a> approved last week.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RE-ENACTED BUDGET &#x27;BETTER&#x27;</strong></div><p>Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, for his part, supports a few days of 2026 under a re-enacted budget.</p><p>&quot;This is exactly what I said earlier - better a reenacted budget in January, or even in the first quarter of 2026, than rushing the passage of a national budget  that is not responsive to the call of the times, amidst the yet unresolved investigations on the misuse and abuse of the current and previous expenditure programs, particularly involving flood control projects,&quot; he said in a statement.</p><p>Senate Finance Committee Chair Sherwin Gatchalian, meanwhile, expressed respect for the Palace&#x27;s prerogative.</p><p>&quot;We acknowledge that submitting the budget to the Executive on December 29 is 2 days before the new year, and the Executive needs sufficient time to review the 4,000+ page enrolled copies of the budget,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;The prudent course of action is to move the signing to January 5 to ensure that every provision is thoroughly reviewed.&quot; </p><div><br/></div><div><strong>‘NO PORK’ </strong></div><p>Meanwhile, Lanao del Sur First District Rep. Zia Adiong clarified there was no pork barrel in the 2026 budget, rejecting a news report that was based on a past TV interview.</p><p>&quot;I am here to make a clear and unequivocal clarification. There is no pork in the 2026 National Budget. I find it unfair to the working men and women of both the House of Representatives and the Senate Bicameral Conference Committee that headlines would suggest otherwise,” Adiong told reporters.</p><p>He noted that the House had “opened the process to public scrutiny” and even the bicameral conference committee proceedings were live-streamed for the public to see. </p><p>Adiong said his TV interview could have been taken out of context.</p><p>&quot;I understand how a shorter clip taken out of context could create a different impression. But in the full context of that interview, I stated the opposite. When I responded affirmatively, I was merely acknowledging the apprehension raised by the host and shared by some sectors of the public, not admitting the existence of pork,&quot; the lawmaker said. </p><p>&quot;My point remains consistent that the 2026 budget contains no lump sum appropriations, no discretionary funds, and is fully itemized. So let me state this clearly,&quot; he said. -- <strong>with a report from RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News</strong></p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO: </strong></div><div><iframe width="827" height="465" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mP368liLEyE" title="Senators, congressmen wrangle over cuts in DPWH&#x27;s 2026 budget | ANC" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><iframe width="726" height="408" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rAOswHqtWCc" title="As it happened: First-ever open bicam on 2026 nat&#x27;l budget concludes | ABS-CBN News" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><p>MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is set to sign the Philippines’ P6.793-trillion budget for next year in the “first week of January,” about a week after the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) expires, Executive Secretary Ralph Recto confirmed on Wednesday.</p><p>The move means that the Philippines will have a re-enacted budget several days as the law mandates the government to re-use its last approved national budget until a new spending bill is signed into law.</p><p>“First week of January,” Recto told Palace reporters when asked when the President intended to sign the new national budget into law.</p><div><br style="caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0)"/></div>

<p>President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is set to sign the Philippines’ P6.793-trillion budget for next year on January 5, five days after the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) expires, Executive Secretary Ralph Recto confirmed on Wednesday.</p>

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is set to sign the Philippines’ P6.793-trillion budget for next year on January 5, five days after the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) expires, Executive Secretary Ralph Recto confirmed on Wednesday.

Marcos to sign 2026 budget on first week of January — Recto

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Marcos to sign 2026 budget on first week of January — Recto

Katrina Domingo,

RG Cruz,

ABS-CBN News

Published December 24, 2025 12:28 PM PHT

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Updated December 24, 2025 04:19 PM PHT

Read More:

Bongbong Marcos

Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Ralph Recto

2026 General Appropriations Act

2026 national budget

2026 GAA

2026 budget

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