Rowegie Abanto

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the Ceremonial Hall of Malacañan Palace in Manila on August 14, 2025. Mark Balmores, PPA Pool/File

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signs into law the Judiciary Fiscal Autonomy Act at the Ceremonial Hall of Malacañan Palace in Manila on August 14, 2025. 

The law strengthens the constitutional guarantee under Article VIII, Section 3, ensuring that the Judiciary’s budget cannot be reduced below the previous year’s allocation and must be automatically released. It also authorizes the Supreme Court to submit its budget proposal directly to Congress, mandates the automatic monthly release of funds, and requires quarterly reporting to the President and Congress. Witnesses include Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, Senate President Chiz Escudero, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and other officials. 

Mark Balmores, PPA Pool

Article (news)

House urged to examine Marcos office budget

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175722705470220250814-marcos-judiciary-fiscal-autonomy-PPA-8 (1).jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false" style="text-align:left">President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the Ceremonial Hall of Malacañan Palace in Manila on August 14, 2025. <em>Mark Balmores, PPA Pool/File</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — A budget monitor on Sunday challenged the House Committee on Appropriations to scrutinize the proposed P27.28 billion budget of the Office of the President for next year.</p><p>Liza Maza, convenor of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLCceIaWCSQ">Bantay Budget Network</a>, called on the House panel to skip extending parliamentary courtesy to the Office of the President.</p><p>The proposed budgets of the OP and of the Office of the Vice President have traditionally been approved swiftly and with few questions. </p><p>Maza, who is also president of the Makabayan coalition, said the OP&#x27;s proposed budget should go through &quot;full scrutiny&quot; by lawmakers and civil society groups, &quot;in light of mounting public outrage over systemic corruption.&quot;</p><p>The panel is scheduled to conduct a hearing on the proposed budget of the Office of the President on Monday morning, September 8.</p><p>Maza, a former party-list representative, said the Palace &quot;should not be insulated from any scrutiny or questioning, especially its confidential and intelligence funds and various special purpose funds under the Office of the President.&quot;</p><p>She stressed that the public deserves to know &quot;how every peso of confidential and intelligence funds is being spent,&quot; noting that officials cannot invoke that the funds are &quot;classified&quot; to be immune from review.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>MARCOS&#x27; OFFICE BUDGET GETS 72-PERCENT BUMP</strong></div><p>The Office of the President&#x27;s yearly proposed budget <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/9/9/op-s-p10-5-billion-proposed-2025-budget-breezes-through-house-panel-1430">traditionally gets little to no questioning during budget deliberations</a> in both chambers of Congress.</p><p>President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.&#x27;s office has proposed a P27.28 billion budget for 2026, and P4.5 billion goes to confidential and intelligence funds, which are difficult to audit.</p><p>The P27.28 billion budget proposal for the President&#x27;s office in 2026 is a 72-percent increase from this year&#x27;s P15.84 billion.</p><p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.dbm.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/NEP2026/OP/OP.pdf">P10.783 billion is proposed to be released directly to the Office of the President </a>for the Philippines&#x27; hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summits and Related Meetings in 2026. The event has a proposed P17.495 billion budget.</p><p>Palace Press Officer Claire Castro had defended the proposed secret funds of the Office of the President, saying they are not inherently bad if used correctly. Confidential and intelligence funds, she added, become bad when used by a corrupt person.</p><p>She had also explained that Marcos&#x27; proposed budget of more than P1 billion for local and foreign trips for 2026 is meant to be used to encourage other nations to invest in the country.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;LEAD BY EXAMPLE&#x27; </strong></div><p>Maza also said that the tradition of parliamentary courtesy &quot;has been weaponized to shield corrupt practices from public accountability.&quot;</p><p>The convenor said there is an &quot;urgent need for transparency&quot; after revelations of alleged corruption in the government&#x27;s flood control and other infrastructure projects.</p><p>&quot;We have seen billions of pesos lost to questionable flood control projects, ghost contractors, and inflated budgets. If the President truly wants to clean up government, he should lead by example and subject his own office to the same level of scrutiny he demands from others,&quot; she said. </p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/8/28/marcos-lawmakers-urged-to-release-salns-amid-lifestyle-checks-1628"><strong>&#x27;Lead by example&#x27;: Marcos, lawmakers urged to release SALNs amid lifestyle checks</strong></a></div><p>Marcos this week <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/3/marcos-orders-sweeping-review-of-dpwh-budget-under-nep-1157">ordered a review of the proposed budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways</a> amid the corruption allegations hounding the agency.</p><p>The President wanted the review to lead to &quot;necessary changes to guarantee transparency, accountability and proper use of people&#x27;s money,&quot; Castro said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>GROUP CALLS FOR &#x27;TRUE TRANSPARENCY&#x27; IN 2026 BUDGET HEARINGS</strong></div><p>Social Watch Philippines last month pointed out &quot;limited&quot; avenues and mechanisms for genuine participation under the newly adopted interim guidelines for civil society engagement in the 2026 budget deliberations.</p><p>Jessica Reyes-Cantos, co-convenor of the budget watchdog, said in a statement that while they appreciate the House of Representatives&#x27; move to promote citizens&#x27; participation, the interim rules under House Resolution No. 94 &quot;still fall short.&quot;</p><p>&quot;As currently framed, civil society and grassroots submissions will only be &#x27;accepted and noted&#x27; without the chance for full discussion,&quot; Reyes-Cantos said.</p><p>The co-convenor added that an accreditation process that interested parties will have to go through also &quot;reduces the public&#x27;s participation to a token exercise.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Amid widespread corruption and misuse of public funds, Filipinos deserve more than ceremonial engagements. True transparency allows citizens to voice their concerns and scrutinize how their money is spent,&quot; she said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rYkfb6ecKxs?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s office has proposed a P27.28 billion budget for 2026, and P4.5 billion goes to confidential and intelligence funds, which are difficult to audit.</p>

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s office has proposed a P27.28 billion budget for 2026, and P4.5 billion goes to confidential and intelligence funds, which are difficult to audit.

House panel urged to scrutinize Office of the President's proposed P27.28-B budget

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House panel urged to scrutinize Office of the President's proposed P27.28-B budget

Rowegie Abanto,

ABS-CBN News

Published Sep 07, 2025 03:43 PM PHT

|

Updated Sep 07, 2025 04:06 PM PHT

Read More:

Office of the President

Ferdinand Marcos Jr

Bantay Budget Network

Social Watch Philippines

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