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Jean Mangaluz - The Philippine Star
April 16, 2025 | 6:07pm
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signs into law the 2025 national budget at Malacañang on December 30, 2024.
Noel Pabalate / The Philippine STAR
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) denied claims that it is rushing the release of the 2025 national budget.
The 2025 General Appropriations Act has garnered controversy since its budget deliberation stage in Congress in 2024, including issues such as the decision to grant zero subsidy to Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
The DBM addressed circulating reports on social media accusing the agency of fast-tracking budget releases. As of March 31, the DBM said it had released 80.7% of the national budget to government agencies.
However, this is consistent with the rate of releases during the same period in previous years. According to DBM, the agency released the following percentages of its budget as of March 31:
- 2016: 82.3%
- 2017: 79.9%
- 2018: 84.0%
- 2019: 13.7% (Reenacted budget)
- 2020: 78.4%
- 2021: 78.0%
- 2022: 69.4%
- 2023: 81.9%
- 2024: 83.2%
- 2025: 80.7%
In a video, DBM Undersecretary Goddes Hope Libiran explained that a comprehensive release was made once the budget was signed by the president. This covers fixed government programs, including salaries and allowances of workers, funding for regular operational requirements and other ongoing projects.
Just because the budget has been comprehensively released doesn’t mean it is being depleted or has already been spent.
The remaining budget is classified for later release, as it is still pending a Special Allotment Release Order (SARO).
“Ang budget ay hindi dapat hinuhold o tinitinga. Ito ay kailangang ma-release ka agad dahil ito ay katumbas ng pang-publikong serbisyo para sa taong bayan,” Libiran said.
(The budget is not held or on standby. It needs to be released because this is equivalent to public service for the people.)
Libiran also said that government spending helps spur the economy.
