House panel OKs sharply reduced 2027 budget for Marcos office

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September 1, 2026 | 3:26pm

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the President’s proposed budget for 2027 worth more than P10.15 billion passed the deliberations of the Committee on Appropriations in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, September 1.

With 37 affirmative votes and five negative votes, the committee approved the P10,155,758,000 proposed budget within the first 25 minutes of the deliberations after lawmakers extended “institutional and interbranch courtesy” to the Office of the President.

According to Executive Secretary Ralph Recto, who attended the hearing with other officials from the Office of the President, the proposed budget represents only 0.14% of the P7.2 trillion total budget proposal for 2027.

Recto added that it is also 64% lower than the 2026 budget.

Based on the publicly available General Appropriations Act of 2026 uploaded on the website of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the Office of the President was allocated P28,028,733,000.

Recto said the decrease in the proposed budget reflects the lower operating costs of the Office of the President’s delivery units and the completion of activities related to the ASEAN Summit, which the country hosted.

“In short, we are asking for less, while remaining fully prepared to do more,” Recto said.

After Recto’s presentation, House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan (4Ps Party-list) made the motion to extend interparliamentary courtesy to the Office of the President and terminate further deliberations and discussions of the sought budget.

The motion was seconded by House Senior Deputy Speaker Ferdinand Hernandez (South Cotabato).

Rep. Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers Party-list), however, objected and argued that Congress should also demand transparency from the Office of the President, the same way that it demanded the Office of the Vice President to be transparent about its budget.

“Lakas maka-demand ng kongresong ito ng transparency para sa Office of the Vice President.

Dapat ganoon din para sa Office of the President,” Tinio said, citing alleged involvement of some Cabinet officials in flood control corruption. “Kailangang magpaliwanag ang Office of the President kung bakit halos kalahati ng kanyang budget ay confidential and intelligence funds.”

(This Congress demanded transparency from the Office of the Vice President. The same should apply to the Office of the President. The Office of the President needs to explain why almost half of its budget goes to confidential and intelligence funds.)

In their manifestations, some lawmakers explained their negative votes and cited the need for transparency and accountability as reasons to oppose the “parliamentary courtesy.”

Among those who opposed were Tinio, Rep. Renee Co (Kabataan Party-list), Rep. Sarah Elago (Gabriela Party-list), Rep. Eli San Fernando (KAMANGGAGAWA Party-list) and Rep. Iris Montes (4K Party-list).