DBM to pre-select vetted infra projects for legislators

THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is working on creating a “menu” of ready-to-implement infrastructure projects for legislators to include in the budget, Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said.

“We are going to have a menu for our legislators. If they want to add to the budget or if they see something from our list of projects, for example, flood control, farm-to-market roads, school building programs, they can choose from that menu,” she said on a radio program on Wednesday.

She said the menu system ensures that a project is pre-vetted or validated.

Ms. Pangandaman has indicated a move to a more coordinated, efficient and data-driven approach in selecting priority projects.

The Development Budget Coordination Committee has proposed a P6.793-trillion spending plan for 2026. This is 7.4% higher than this year’s budget and is equivalent to 22% of gross domestic product.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. in his State of the Nation Address last month said he would not approve any 2026 national budget that significantly deviates from his government’s national expenditure program.

This could lead to a reenacted budget, under which the government is forced to operate under the preceding year’s budget. The last major reenacted budget crisis was in 2019 under President Rodrigo R. Duterte, during which the new year’s budget was left unsigned for four months.

The House of Representatives is expecting to receive the proposed national budget for 2026 by next week. Budget hearings are set to begin in September. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson