Senate OKs P27.3 billion OP budget for 2026

MANILA, Philippines —  The proposed 2026 budget of the Office of the President (OP) breezed through approval during plenary deliberations at the Senate yesterday.

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada moved to terminate the interpellation without debate, citing “institutional courtesy” to a co-equal branch of government.

The courtesy also extends to President Marcos as a former senator before becoming president, Estrada said.

Former finance secretary now Executive Secretary Ralph Recto was present for the OP’s budget deliberation.

The OP has a proposed P27.35 billion in the Senate version of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

The Senate increased by P66.2 million the OP’s proposed 2026 budget in the House of Representatives’ version of the GAB.

The OP’s budget was augmented for the Philippines’ hosting next year of the ASEAN Summit and related meetings.

The ASEAN Summit 2026 would be held in two parts with 21 heads of state – including US President Donald Trump – to be invited, according to the OP.

The ASEAN Summit was last held in the Philippines in 2017.

‘Clean of insertions’

The 2026 national budget version passed by the House of Representatives is clean of insertions and flood control funds, Nueva Ecija 1st district Rep. Mikaela Suansing said yesterday.

Suansing, chairperson of the House committee on appropriations, made the statement in reaction to the most recent claims of former Ako Bicol party-list congressman Zaldy Co that the 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP) contained P97-billion insertions.

“Technically, there is really no insertions there. If what you are saying as the insertion is flood control, there is none and there’s no insertions in the version of budget that we passed,” Suansing said in a TV interview.

“There is no flood control, definitely. And when you say NEP, technically, there are no insertions there, from a technical standpoint because that is the version that we passed,” she added.

Suansing further said the 2026 national budget passed by the House does not also have flood control funds.