Office of the President’s budget cleared in 40 minutes
MANILA, Philippines — The budgets of the Office of the President (OP) and the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) easily passed through the Senate Committee on Finance and have been deemed submitted to plenary.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is asking for P27.29 billion for the OP, marking a 72% increase compared to its current budget of P15.8 billion.
Meanwhile, the PMS asked for P882.5 million for 2026. This is around a P10-million increase from their budget in 2025, which was P872.6 million.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin attributed the increase to the Philippines’ hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in 2026. He said that ASEAN took up around 64.3% of the total proposed budget of the OP.
Bersamin said that about 38% will be released to other offices as budgetary support.
“We are confident that the Philippine chairship of the ASEAN 2026 will further improve our standing as a founding member of the ASEAN,” Bersamin said.
The OP and PMS’ budget went largely unchallenged. Most of the questions asked during the committee hearing focused on the details of the ASEAN summit in the Philippines.
Executive Secretary Undersecretary Roy Cervantes said that there are two large summits. The first one will be in May, and the second one will be in October or November. There will be more than 640 meetings scheduled in between, he added.
Asked by Sen. Win Gatchalian how many world leaders are expected, Cervantes said that around 11 heads of state are expected for the May summit. The second ASEAN summit, which is larger and more packed, will have 21 heads of state, said Cervantes.
However, Cervantes admitted that cybersecurity could be an issue in such a large event.
To this, Sen. Erwin Tulfo proposed that the OP budget for cybersecurity could be increased as well, but no amount was specified.
“We usually welcome the budget of the OP, PMS with open arms and support, and by tradition, we usually approve it,” Sen. Migz Zubiri said, making the motion to approve the budget. Tulfo seconded the motion.
Gatchalian then declared the budget submitted to plenary.
From roll call to the approval, the deliberation lasted around 40 minutes.
The OP and the Office of the Vice President are typically granted parliamentary courtesy, which allows their budget to go directly to the plenary.
However, the Philippines is currently facing the largest corruption scandal during the Marcos administration, sparking calls for complete transparency. When the House of Representatives tackled the OP’s budget yesterday, several lawmakers opposed allowing the agency to breeze through easily.
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