BBM Explains Vetoed Items in 2025 Budget

More than 180 public works projects and 15 unprogrammed appropriations were scrapped from the 2025 national budget as President Marcos exercised his power to veto items in the spending law.

- By ALEXIS ROMERO

In his veto message for the 2025 budget, Marcos said he was duty-bound to veto items that were not consistent with the administration's priorities as he emphasized the need to ensure that government targets would respond more directly to the needs of Filipinos.

"We must be clearly driven by this goal because much as we want to do everything we wish for our people immediately and all at the same time, our finite resources compel us to exercise sound judgment to ensure our fiscal sustainability—we must not compromise our future, thus the imperative need to program our priorities," the President said in a letter addressed to the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The vetoed public works projects—including numerous flood control structures—had an allocation of more than P26 billion and formed part of the P194 billion worth of budgetary items rejected by Marcos.

The rest of the vetoed items were unprogrammed allocations worth P168.24 billion.

The public works projects that were excluded from the P6.326 trillion national budget include those categorized as construction and maintenance of flood mitigation structures and drainage systems (P4.585 billion), construction and rehabilitation of flood mitigation facilities within major river basins and principal rivers (P2.888 billion) and convergence and special support program (P18.042 billion).

Earlier, Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Manuel Bonoan admitted that some projects need to be scrutinized further before they are implemented.

“These are some of the projects that are not ready for implementation at this point in time. So, these are projects that we have actually deferred,” he said at a recent press briefing without identifying the particular projects.