The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) submitted the proposed ₱7.2-trillion 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP) to President Marcos on Aug. 10, with the Palace set to formally transmit the document to Congress on Aug. 11 — days before the Aug. 14 constitutional deadline for submission. The proposed budget, if enacted at this size, would be the largest in Philippine history and equivalent to 21.7 percent of the country's projected gross domestic product, according to the DBM.
According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Manila Bulletin, the 2027 proposal is ₱407 billion, or roughly 6 percent, larger than the ₱6.7932-trillion budget Congress passed for 2026. Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman's department has described the process as "rigorously vetted," according to Manila Bulletin's earlier reporting on the DBM's mid-August submission target, and the agency says the plan is built around the theme "People-Centered Growth for an Inclusive and Resilient Future," prioritizing education, health, livelihood programs, security, and community resilience.
The government is projecting 2027 real GDP growth of 5 to 6 percent and inflation of 4 to 5 percent, according to the Manila Times — notably more optimistic than the administration's own 2026 targets of 3.5 to 4.5 percent growth and 6 to 7 percent inflation, targets that have already been undercut this year by a growth slowdown tied partly to the fallout from the flood-control corruption scandal. Pulpulitiko reported on Aug. 8 that second-quarter growth slumped to a 16-year low of 2.3 percent as public construction spending collapsed amid agencies' reluctance to approve infrastructure projects after the scandal, and that the debt-to-GDP ratio climbed to a 22-year high of 66 percent.
That fiscal backdrop is central to how the 2027 budget will be scrutinized once it reaches Congress. House Speaker Faustino "Bojie" Dy III has pledged what he called a "responsive, accountable" budget process, telling reporters, as Pulpulitiko reported on Aug. 3, that the chamber would build on transparency reforms adopted after the flood-control scandal broke. But the DBM itself has repeatedly flagged what it calls "very narrow fiscal space," pointing to rising debt-service costs — which reached ₱483.7 billion in the first half of 2026 alone, a 16.6 percent jump — and automatic revenue transfers to local governments under the Mandanas ruling, both of which limit the government's room for new discretionary spending even as the topline budget number grows.
Neither Malacañang nor the DBM has yet published a detailed breakdown of how the ₱7.2-trillion NEP allocates funds among specific agencies or infrastructure programs; that granular detail typically emerges once the National Expenditure Program document itself, and subsequent House and Senate committee hearings, become public. Congress will use the NEP as the starting point for negotiations that produce the General Appropriations Act, the actual law that authorizes 2027 spending, a process that in recent years has run past the start of the fiscal year it covers.
Context
The Philippine Constitution requires the president to submit a budget proposal to Congress within 30 days of the opening of its regular session; lawmakers had set Aug. 14, 2026 as the effective deadline for this cycle. The proposed 2027 budget arrives as the government's fiscal position has come under sustained pressure: the flood-control corruption scandal that erupted in 2025 led to a pullback in public construction spending, slower growth, and heightened scrutiny of how infrastructure funds are approved and disbursed, while debt-service costs continue to consume a growing share of available revenue. Pulpulitiko has previously reported on the July 23 opening bid for the ₱7.2-trillion budget and on Speaker Dy's Aug. 3 transparency pledge; this submission marks the next formal step in the constitutional budget process.
Sources
- Palace to submit P7.2-trillion 2027 budget to Congress on Aug. 11 (Manila Bulletin)
- DBM submits proposed P7.2-trillion 2027 national budget to Marcos (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
- DBM proposed budget for 2027: P7.2 trillion (The Manila Times)
- Marcos gov't seeks P7.2-trillion budget for 2027 (Rappler)
- DBM eyes mid-August submission of 'rigorously' vetted ₱7.2-trillion 2027 budget to Congress (Manila Bulletin)