2026 budget: For whom?

Malacañang claimed that the 2026 General Appropriations Act is "the "cleanest and most proper" spending law passed.

- Cherry Piquero-Ballescas

Some lawmakers lauded theP6.793 trillion budget for fiscal year 2026. Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III called it "by far the cleanest ever," though opposition solons said pork barrel allocations remained.

Other lawmakers vowed, includingHouse Speaker Bojie Dy, that they will make sure that every peso in the 2026 national budget is spent exactly as approved, that the government funds should go to the people."

Do the lawmakers mean the budget should finally go to all deserving long-disadvantaged, abused Filipino people, not their own people in Congress and their dynasties?

Despite public outrage about corruption, DPWH still had the second biggest 2026 budget allocation as follows: 1)Department of Education - P1.015 trillion, 2) f Public Works and Highways - P530.9 billion, 3) Health - P448.1 billion, 4) Interior and Local Government - P310.5 billion, 5) National Defense - P310.0 billion, 6) Agriculture - P297.1 billion, 7) Social Welfare and Development - P270.2 billion, 8 Transportation - P141.0 billion, 9) Labor and Employment - P73.6 billion, and, 10) Judiciary - P70.6 billion.

Social Watch Philippines, a budget watchdog, called on BBM toveto several "highly questionable items" from the ratified 2026 national budget bill worth ₱319.04 billion"as follows: