To the organizers of Amplify-Ed Budget Congress: Multiply-Ed (X-Ed), the Center for Youth Advocacy and Networking (CYAN), and Government Watch (G-Watch);
Colleagues from the national government and civil society, especially our youth sector;
All participants, stakeholders, and advocates of transparency, participation, and accountability in education governance:
Magandang umaga!
Assalamu alaikum wa Raḥmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
I am so happy to be among my fellow young budget champions from all over the country!
We truly need advocates like you to make sure that our budget is transparent and truly for the people.
That is why I made it a point to be here today, even if we are now in the middle of finalizing our budget for 2026. Forums like this and dialogues with the people are very crucial to us!
Like what you said, in the Department of Budget and Management, we also kick off our budget process through several forums. We issue our budget call for all the National Government Agencies and Government-Owned or -Controlled Corporations and request them to provide a list of their proposals for programs and projects—such as roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, additional government employees, medicines, and everything that the country needs.
After they submit these to the DBM, we study each proposal. We check if these are truly needed or not, and whether they will help the economy and benefit our people.
For example, our budget for FY 2026 is Php 6.793 trillion—that’s the cap. Sa mga ekonomista, alam po ninyo na may cap dahil depende po iyan sa revenue natin at kung ano lang ‘yung kaya nating hiramin sa mga pwede nating pagkautangan. Pero ang natanggap po ng DBM na request mula sa lahat ng ahensya ay Php 10.1 trillion.
Ganoon po kahirap mag-budget. Parang sa bahay lang din iyan na marami tayong pangangailangan pero ang pwede lang nating gastusan ay kung ano lang ang pasok sa income natin. Minsan, gumagamit tayo ng credit card, minsan nanghihiram tayo, pero kailangan kapag manghihiram ka, mayroon kang pambayad.
It's not an easy job. First of all, we need to make sure that these projects and programs really benefit the people. And because we have limited fiscal space—that means our budget has a limit—we need to do something very important in budgeting: prioritization.
Our topmost priority has always been the Education sector. This always has to be our number one because it says so in our Constitution.
For FY 2025, under the General Appropriations Act, the Education sector still received the highest allocation, with Php 1.055 trillion.
This covers 16.7 percent of our total national budget of Php 6.326 trillion, which meets the education spending recommendation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO.
Para naman sa ating college students, mayroon po tayong nakalaan na Php 27.25 billion para sa Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Program. Ito po ay para sa libreng tuition sa lahat ng State Universities and Colleges. Kasama rin dito ang inyong mga education subsidies at student loan programs.
We also have some Php 6.12 billion for our Inclusive Education Program, to support our Special Needs Education and the provision of Flexible Learning Options, among others.
And for the children, the DBM has just recently approved the release of Php 1 billion to support the establishment of Child Development Centers (CDCs).
Ang beneficiaries po natin diyan ay 89 LGUs in Luzon, 106 in the Visayas, and 133 in Mindanao.
Of course, we also need to make sure that we build good schools. So we have allocated some Php 36.5 billion for the construction, maintenance, and repair of buildings, dormitories, and other facilities for both public higher education institutions and basic education.
For our teachers, we have doubled the teaching allowance to Php 10,000. And for this, the government is spending Php 9.9 billion.
And we just recently approved the creation of an additional 4,000 teaching positions, completing our target of 20,000 teacher items for 2025.
By next year, there will be additional 20,000 teaching positions and we will be able to close the gap in the teacher workforce. So by next year, kung mapopondohan po namin ito, magkakaroon na tayo ng sapat na bilang ng mga teachers.
We have also approved the establishment of 10,000 administrative staff positions—para makapag-focus na po ang ating mga guro sa pagtuturo.
Ilan lamang ito sa mga programa at proyekto para siguruhin na abot-kaya at de-kalidad ang edukasyon sa ating bansa.
I am sharing all of these with you because at DBM, we are very transparent. In fact, according to the latest Open Budget Survey, the Philippines is now number one in budget transparency, not just in Southeast Asia but in the entire Asia! Hopefully, with our reforms na makikita nimyo mamaya, we’ll be able to reach number one worldwide!
Lahat ng kailangan ninyo pagdating sa budget, online po iyan sa DBM. At mayroon din po kaming publications transcribed in English, Filipino, and even other dialects. If you will just find time to go to our website, makikita n’yo po lahat ng ating data. Mayroon din kaming Data Analytics kung saan may mga data sets na pwede n’yong gamitin kung gusto n’yong mag-research. ‘Yung mga nagtatanong about changes ng budget, makikita n’yo rin po sa aming website.
I am also advocating for transparency because the Philippines is a founding member of the Open Government Partnership or OGP. ‘Yung iba niyo pong kasama rito ay member ng OGP. Pwede rin kayong maging miyembro ng Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP), institutionalized by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. through an Executive Order. So, ang members po diyan, may Steering Committee na binubuo ng National Government kasama ang Judiciary at Constitutional Offices, at members din ang non-government organizations (NGOs) at civil society organizations (CSOs).
Following the institutionalization of the PH-OGP, we hosted the 2025 OGP Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting, kung saan represented ang 40 countries from all over the Asia and the Pacific region.
And just this April, we successfully concluded the Open Gov Week 2025, where we, in a historic first, provided a platform for CSOs to have a dialogue with the country’s Economic Team and consult them on how to make the national budget more responsive to the people’s needs. In fact, the organizers of this Amplify-Ed Budget Congress from Government Watch also joined the dialogue.
On this note, I would like to personally thank the People’s Budget Coalition, a group of civil society and people’s organizations advocating for inclusive recovery through better spending of taxpayers’ money for health, transport, labor, business, economic reform, and education because they said that opening this dialogue “marks a significant milestone for transparency and public participation.”
Finally, I am determined for us to do our part to end corruption. May ambag na po ang DBM dy’an. One of our biggest achievements last year was the passage of a new law, the New Government Procurement Act (NGPA), which introduced mechanisms to promote transparency, ensure public participation, and improve efficiency in government procurement processes.
And I am so happy to share that this has been hailed as the biggest anti-corruption measure in the country’s recent history. How? When the government procures or buys anything now, we use digitalization to make sure that the procurement or shopping process is not only efficient but also transparent. We have also introduced an electronic or eMarketplace—a government version of Shoppee or Lazada, where agencies can “add to cart” and directly procure items from competent and reputable suppliers.
In line with this, we have been advocating for the passage of the Right to Information (RTI) Law, or what has been more known as the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. PBBM himself emphasized that our citizens can only truly participate in governance if they have access to information. And so—if I may borrow from the theme of today’s event—I take this opportunity to AMPLIFY our call. I urge everyone of you here to stand with us in pushing for this crucial reform.
Hopefull maisama namin ito sa Legislative Agenda, to be prioritized by our Administration. After that, tulungan niyo po kami na maipasa po ito sa House of Representatives and Senate of the Philippines. Mag-ingay po tayo. Hindi ko po ito kaya ng ako lang o ng DBM, Presidential Communications Office (PCO), at Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) lang. I want you all, kung kaya ninyo, to be present sa mga hearings ng Senate at ng House para maipasa po natin itong RTI Law.
With that, together, let us champion a transparent, responsive, and inclusive budget process.
So that through our commitment to our Agenda for Prosperity, we can build a future where every peso truly counts for every Filipino and where corruption becomes a thing of the past.
Samahan niyo po kami sa adbokasiyang ito. Mabuhay ang kabataang Pilipino!
Wabillahi Tawfiq Wal Hidaya, Wasalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhuh.
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