'Don’t abuse the power of the purse': Palace warns Congress
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang doubled down on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s warning to Congress about making big changes in the 2026 national budget, telling lawmakers not to abuse their constitutional mandate.
In Marcos’ 2025 State of the Nation Address (SONA), the president issued a rare, scathing warning to lawmakers: stick to the executive branch’s proposed budget or risk forcing the government to operate on a reenacted budget.
While the 2025 budget approved by Congress indeed raised several legal concerns, Senate President Francis Escudero said the president cannot expect a budget with no changes from the National Expenditure Program (NEP), which is the official term for the administration's proposed budget.
The power of the purse belonged to Congress, Escudero reiterated.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said the NEP has been extensively studied and analyzed, and once it has been formed, this should be followed.
“Hindi po dapat abusuhin 'yung sinasabing power of the purse, at maraming magkaroon, kung meron man, ng mga insertions at hindi mapapakinabangan na tunay ng taong bayan,” Castro said during a press briefing on Monday, August 1.
(The so-called power of the purse should not be abused, and if there are any insertions, they should not be ones that the public cannot truly benefit from.)
Castro said the budget must be clean and that Congress should open the bicameral conference.
The bicam, which is a closed-door meeting between lawmakers from the House of Representatives and the Senate to reconcile their versions of the budget, is said to be where most of the controversial decisions about the 2025 budget were made, including granting Philhealth zero subsidy for the entire year.
Castro reiterated the Palace’s stance that the bicam should be open to the public.
During his fourth SONA, Marcos said that if Congress does not follow the NEP, then he would return the budget.
However, there are several consequences for a re-enacted budget, should Marcos not sign the passed General Appropriations Bill.
A re-enacted budget, or a recycled version of the budget from the previous year, would mean that no new government projects could be started, since all of the budgetary items are already dedicated to old ones. It would also mean that no new worker positions could be opened within the government.
However, Castro said that insertions could be made should they be reasonable. Marcos is unlikely to veto provisions that have sensible causes.
Asked if the president had fully thought through the consequences of a possibly re-enacted budget, the Palace said he did.
“Malamang magsasakripisyo po yan para lamang makita ng taong bayan na hindi dapat abusuhin ang pondo ng bayan,” Castro said.
(Likely, he will sacrifice it so that the masses could see that public funding must not be abused.)
Several controversies hound the 2025 budget more than halfway into the year, including the ballooning of unprogrammed funds and budget cuts to social welfare and education programs.
The most controversial issue is the massive allotment to infrastructure, which surpassed spending for education, despite the Constitution mandating that the education sector get the biggest cut in the budget.
While Marcos expressed disapproval of the 2025 budget, he still signed it into law, vetoing several items in the process.
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