3 days ago
House hit with P16.8B budget cut in proposed 2026 budget
The House of Representatives got a P17.2 billion proposed budget for 2026 under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) which is a P16.8 billion cut from the current P34 billion budget.
Based on the NEP submitted by the Department of Budget (DBM) and Management to Congress, the House was allocated P6.46 billion for personnel services and P10.74 billion for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE).
Noticeably, there was also zero allocation for Capital Outlay for the House of Representatives.
All these figures were down compared with the 2025 budget, wherein the House had P7.73 billion for Personnel Services, P22.4 billion for MOOE, and P4 billion for Capital Outlay.
The House's P17.2 billion proposed budget for 2026 is broken down to the following:
P6.22 billion for general management and supervision
P649 million for administration of personnel benefits and
P10.34 billion for House of Representatives Legislative Program
The House of Representatives has been led by Speaker and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, cousin of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., since 2022.
For the 20th Congress, the President's son and Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos has also been elected to serve as the House Majority Leader, the chief of the House Committee on Rules that schedules deliberations on proposed bills.
Reforms
In an earlier statement, Romualdez said the House will ensure that the national budget for 2026 will alleviate the lives of Filipinos.
'Bawat gastusin [ng gobyerno], dapat may pakinabang sa tao. Because a budget the people can trust is a government the people can believe in,' Romualdez said.
(Government expenditures should benefit the people.)
Romualdez also said that at least five significant reforms will be enforced by the House of Representatives in the scrutiny and enactment of the budget for fiscal year 2026.
The House will remove the 'small committee' that collated institutional amendments, according to Romualdez.
It will also open the Bicameral Conference Committee on the budget to the public and the media and civil society, people's organizations, and the private sector will also be invited to join budget hearings.
Romualdez pointed out that the reforms seek to ensure full transparency and to involve the public through people's organizations, noting that the budget is the people's money.
'A budget is not just a spending plan—it is a mirror of our priorities and a measure of our accountability to the people. And because this is the people's money, the process of crafting it must be transparent, inclusive, and worthy of public trust,' Romualdez said.
President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. has urged members of Congress who will deliberate the proposed 2026 national budget to "swiftly enact" it. —VAL, GMA Integrated News
