DBM calls on agencies to prepare proposals for 2026 budget

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has called on government departments and agencies to prepare for their budget proposals for Fiscal Year 2026.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman's issuing the National Budget Memorandum No. 153 or the National Budget Call on December 27, 2024 signaled the preparatory stage for the drafting of the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for next year.

The Budget Call was issued days before President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. signed the P6.326-trillion General Appropriations Acts for FY 2025.

At the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum on Wednesday, the Budget chief said the early issuance of the Budget Call was done “so that there is enough time for the agencies to prepare their budget request to DBM.”

“Because it's a long process. We will sit with the DBM, each bureaus, directors, and officials one by one… They also, within their departments, will have their meetings, their TWGs [technical working groups], just to make sure that those projects are readily implementable and consistent with our so-called PDP [Philippine Development Plan] made by our government, the eight-point socioeconomic agenda,” Pangandaman said.

The Budget chief said the DBM has set a budget forum within the department on January 27 and another with national government agencies and government-owned and controlled corporations on January 28.

Based on the 2022-2028 Medium Term Fiscal Framework, the state expenditure plan for 2026 is estimated at P6.793 trillion.

Pangandaman, however, said that the entire MTFF is subject to review in the first quarter of 2025.

“May magbabago po sa numbers ng MTFF. And for everybody's information, dun sa MTFF po natin that was adopted by both houses, 2025 po ‘yung year ng review ng entire MTFF,” she said.

(There will be changes in the numbers under MTFF. And for everybody's information, under the MTFF that was adopted by both houses, 2025 is the year for the review of the entire MTFF.)

For his part, DBM Assistant Secretary Rolando Toledo said that the Budget Department cannot commit yet on the exact level of the proposed budget for 2026.

“That’s why we have to review the targets in the first quarter to determine the level of the budget in 2026,” Toledo said.

Meanwhile, on the criticisms that the 2025 budget is an “election budget,” Pangandaman said that “it is not an election budget.”

“It is the budget of the people. We can use the budget to make sure that it contributes to the overall macroeconomic targets of the national government,” she said.

Marcos, in signing the 2025 GAA, directly vetoed over P194 billion worth of line items that are not consistent with his administration's priorities, including some programs of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). — BM, GMA Integrated News