MANILA, Jan. 5 — Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos on Monday signed into law a 6.793-trillion-peso (about 115 billion U.S. dollars) national budget for 2026.
At the signing ceremony at the presidential palace, Marcos said the 2026 General Appropriations Act is aligned with the government’s medium- and long-term development plans and is aimed at improving the lives of Filipinos.
In the budget, education received the largest share, with more than 1.34 trillion pesos allocated for additional teaching and non-teaching plantilla positions, teacher promotion and reclassification, and nationwide classroom construction.
The health sector was allotted 448.125 billion pesos to support universal healthcare, including funding for disease surveillance, rapid response mechanisms, and sustainable health financing.
Agriculture was allocated over 297 billion pesos to modernize supply systems and support farmers and fisherfolk.
More than 270 billion pesos was earmarked for social protection programs to improve the quality of life, safeguard welfare across sectors, and strengthen human capital.
Marcos said the budget’s flagship programs are designed to help bring the country toward a single-digit poverty rate by 2028. (1 peso equals 0.017 U.S. dollars) (Namibia Daily News/Xinhua)
