6 articles
The government is forgoing at least ₱700 million a month after President Marcos ordered a fresh suspension of excise taxes on LPG and kerosene amid an energy crisis — reviving a measure that already cost the treasury nearly ₱3 billion earlier this year, this time with no announced expiry.
Both downgrades fall short of Manila's own growth target, with S&P delivering the steepest cut among 14 economies it tracked and both institutions flagging the drag from a corruption scandal and a 32% drop in state infrastructure spending.
From a four-year-late Davao bus project to a shelved EDSA busway, the government paid commitment fees on foreign loans for infrastructure that still isn't built — Gatchalian says DOTr needs to stop borrowing for projects that go nowhere.
Speaker Dy has pledged to "scrutinize every centavo" of the ₱7.2-trillion national budget. Congress's own ₱27.89-billion slice cleared the floor on Sept. 17 with zero interpellation — because, lawmakers said, there was no one left in the chamber to ask.
National government support to state firms cooled sharply from June's one-time ₱10-billion Food Terminal Inc. payout, but the first seven months of 2026 already account for nearly half of this year's ₱264.82-billion GOCC subsidy budget, driven largely by a ₱60-billion return to PhilHealth.
The Department of Budget and Management handed President Marcos the proposed 2027 National Expenditure Program on Aug. 10, with Malacañang set to formally transmit the ₱7.2-trillion spending plan — the largest ever proposed — to Congress on Aug. 11, days ahead of the constitutional deadline.
