Marcos wants 'critical projects' in NEP be restored in 2025 budget

President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. on Tuesday said he wants government agencies to reexamine the administration’s programs contained in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) but were defunded by Congress.

Marcos said he wants government agencies to focus particularly on those considered critical to his administration's socioeconomic programs.

“We have to reexamine so that the programs that we wanted – that we put in the NEP -- can somehow be restored,” Marcos said during the 18th Cabinet Meeting in Malacañang Palace.

“For the rest of the departments, I need you to give me the priorities  – the things that we prioritized in the NEP that were removed in terms of budgeting, in terms of appropriations,” he added. “So, what are those? In each department, what are those that are absolutely critical to the socioeconomic program as we delivered to the Congress? Paano natin ibabalik kasi critical ‘yung mga program na nawala.''

[How can we return them since they are critical programs.]

Marcos said he is willing to sit down with each department to ensure that the government’s actual expenditure program will resemble the NEP.

He said many things have to be addressed, including the P12-billion decrease in the budget for the maintenance of roads, P500-million reduction in the funding for routine maintenance of bridges and the P21-billion budget cut for feasibility studies.

Marcos signed into law the proposed national budget for fiscal year 2025 on December 30 and said that he 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).

In his veto message, Marcos said ''the aim of this Administration in our Medium-Term Fiscal Program is to ensure that government targets will respond more directly to the needs of the Filipino people as strategic growth-enhancing fiscal consolidation is pursued.'' — RSJ, GMA Integrated News