Supreme Court, lower courts get over P58B in proposed budget

MANILA, Philippines — The total budget for the country’s highest court and lower courts will exceed P58 billion in 2026.

According to the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for fiscal year 2026, the Supreme Court and lower courts (SCLCs) have a total budget of P58,553,951,000.

This is about 6% higher than the P55,229,819,000 total budget for 2025 and nearly 11% higher than the P52,729,381,000 total budget allocated in 2024.

The Supreme Court had an approved budget of P53,534,113,000 for 2025, according to the General Appropriations Act. This is significantly lower than the total budget for fiscal year 2026.

The largest allocation for the SCLCs under the new appropriations is the “adjudication program (operations),” amounting to P31,117,083,000.

This is followed by the following:

• General Administration and Support: P15,437,803,000
• Projects (Locally-Funded Project(s): P9,325,647,000
• Support to Operations: P728,931,000

Presidential Electoral Tribunal. Meanwhile, the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), which consists of the Chief Justice and the associate justices of the Supreme Court, also saw an increase in its proposed budget for the fiscal year 2026. 

For the upcoming fiscal year, the PET’s proposed total budget is P177,869,000.

This is a significant increase from the 2024 total budget of P168,273,000 and the 2025 total budget of P171,710,000.

It is also higher than the P160,263,000 allocated to the PET under the 2025 General Appropriations Act.

What does the PET do? Under the Constitution, the Supreme Court, sitting en banc, is the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns, and qualifications of the President or Vice President, and may promulgate rules for this purpose.