To my dearest colleagues and fellow public servants from our national government agencies, good morning!
Welcome to the FY 2027 Budget Forum!
As you know, in the first week of January, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 National Budget.
Amidst all the controversies, I am proud to share with you that this is a remarkably people-centered budget, continuing our commitment to fulfill the needs and aspirations of the Filipino people, with an overarching goal of nurturing future-ready generations.
Totoo po ang sinabi ng ating Pangulo—ni PBBM sa kanyang 2025 State of the Nation Address (SONA): sa huling tatlong taon ng kanyang Administrasyon, “ibubuhos pa ng gobyerno ang lahat-lahat—hindi lamang upang mapantayan, kundi mahigitan pa ang pagbibigay ginhawa sa ating mga kababayan.”
Our increased focus on human capital development has resulted in our priority sectors receiving record-high allocations. As you know, our budget for Education this year reached Php 1.34 trillion, which meets UNESCO’s global benchmark for education spending for the first time. The FY 2026 GAA also allocates Php 448.1 billion for the health sector and Php 297 billion for the agriculture sector—their largest budgets in history. These are all in the FY 2026 national budget, in order to promote inclusive growth, and to ensure the sustainability of our economy by making the nation future-proof.
Following the signing of the FY 2026 GAA last January 5, PBBM gave a direct order to “all concerned departments and agencies of the national government to exercise prudent fiscal management to ensure uninterrupted quality public service.”
Kaya naman po habang ini-implement natin ang National Budget para sa taong ito, uumpisahan na rin po natin ang paghahanda ng budget para sa susunod na taon.
The proposed FY 2027 budget will serve as a critical pipeline to achieve the strategic objectives of the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 as we approach its final phase.
We will likewise seek to achieve the Public Financial Management (PFM) Reforms Roadmap’s overarching objectives of fiscal discipline, allocative efficiency, and operational efficiency. As such, the DBM will take into account your agency’s budget utilization rates, absorptive capacity, progress on mandated programs and projects, and the implementation readiness of your proposed initiatives. Alam naman na po natin ito, these are the regular requirements for us to evaluate your proposals.
Your agencies' budget proposals should align with the expenditure management framework outlined in our National Budget Call. In line with this, please remember these key points from the budget call that you should consider when crafting your proposals.
First, we must ensure the continuous alignment of our priorities and policy directions with the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, our 8-Point Socioeconomic Agenda, and the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework.
Second, while we sustain our commitment to infrastructure development under the Build-Better-More Program, we must also ensure that this does not come at the expense of support for our poorest and most vulnerable communities, the social sector, and basic public services. Infrastructure investments drive economic growth, but our people remain at the center of our nation's development.
Third, we recognize that our citizens need both physical and digital infrastructure to thrive; therefore, let us explore how we can make more effective investments in information and communication technology (ICT) to accelerate our digitalization agenda and improve bureaucratic efficiency.
Fourth, Local Government Units are partners of the National Government in bringing public services closer to our communities. Hence, our national budget should prioritize allocations for agencies’ regional programs that address the needs of the poorest, most disadvantaged, and lagging LGUs. The Central and Regional Offices should work hand in hand in finalizing their agency’s budget proposals, considering the department’s priorities in different regions and the potential limitations for regional planning and budgeting linkage, taking into consideration the Mandanas-Garcia Supreme Court Ruling. I just want to emphasize that the central and regional offices should work together hand in hand, because that is what we want during this budget preparation for 2027.
These are just some highlights of our guidelines for preparing the FY 2027 proposed national budget, which shall also reinforce our reforms for greater budget transparency, openness, accountability, and reliability.
We also encourage you to further explore the Program Convergence Budgeting approach, which breaks down silos and promotes stronger inter-agency collaboration in delivering critical programs and interventions.
And of course, we strongly advocate for strengthening your commitment to open governance, as we continue to leverage the Philippine Open Government Partnership, or PH-OGP, in our pursuit of transparency and citizen participation. This is especially important because we are now, once again, a member of the international steering committee of the OGP and, in fact, a shining example of how anti-corruption reforms can be achieved, following our win in the category of anti-corruption for the passage of the New Government Procurement Act (NGPA) and our various efforts in procurement reform.
Finally, let's continue to meaningfully engage Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the budget process. Our dialogues with them have led to the first-ever livestreaming of Bicameral Conference Committee meetings and the highest education budget in history, among others. Let us collaborate with them so that each of our agency budgets is more aligned with the needs and aspirations of our people.
Indeed, there is no better time or place to begin fulfilling our mission than here and now.
Lalo pa nating itaguyod ang isang bukas, tapat, at epektibong pamahalaan na tunay na tumutugon sa pangangailangan ng ating mga mamamayan.
With that, I now leave you with our resource speakers from the Fiscal Planning and Reforms Bureau (FPRB), the Local Government and Regional Operations (LGRO) Group, and our Budget and Management Bureaus, whose expertise will help deepen your understanding of the budget preparation process, budget preparation forms and instructions, submission requirements, and the budget preparation calendar.
I hope that this forum may refresh and prepare us—both in heart and in mind—for the work ahead as we formally begin the budget cycle for FY 2027. I encourage everyone to actively participate in our discussions today, ask questions, and offer suggestions to help us refine our strategies.
Let us move forward with clarity, alignment, and a renewed commitment to craft a National Budget that truly serves the interests of the Filipino people in our Bagong Pilipinas.
Maraming salamat po.
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