Marcos gov’t seeks P112 billion in unprogrammed funds for 2027

DBM CHIEF. Acting Budget Secretary Kim Robert de Leon joins the House of Representatives press conference on the proposed 2027 budget on August 11, 2026. House of Representatives The UA allocation for 2027 is 'the lowest amount nominally of the UAs since 2019 and only accounts for 1.5% of the total expenditure program — the lowest ratio since 1991,' says DBM Acting Secretary Kim Robert de Leon MANILA, Philippines – The proposed 2027 national budget provides for P111.984 billion worth of unprogrammed appropriations (UA), Department of Budget and Management (DBM)Acting Secretary Kim Robert de Leon said on Tuesday, August 11. De Leon said that the UA allocation for 2027 is “the lowest amount nominally of the UAs since 2019 and only accounts for 1.5% of the total expenditure program — the lowest ratio since 1991.” The DBM said the 2027 UA will cover foreign-assisted projects. It has yet to provide details on the specific programs and projects to be funded under the allocation. We will update this story once the National Expenditure Program is publicly released. Unprogrammed appropriations have come under heavy criticism after the government used them to fund flood control projects that were later linked to anomalies. A petition challenging the constitutionality of UA is pending before the Supreme Court. Petitioners argued that UAs serve as a workaround to bypass the constitutional ceiling that prohibits Congress from increasing appropriations beyond the President’s budget proposal. Unprogrammed appropriations surged in 2023, the first approved budget under Marcos, when it reached P807.16 billion or more than triple the P251.64 billion UA in 2022. The amount stood at P731.4 billion in 2024 and P531.7 billion in 2025, but significantly dropped to around P150 billion in 2026, after strong opposition from civil society groups. Before his appointment as DBM secretary, De Leon, an assistant professor at the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance, had written a paper tracing the origins of UA. In the paper, De Leon argued that the national government can operate without unprogrammed appropriations. “Any additional funding requirement that cannot be funded by the GAA should be accordingly submitted by the Executive to Congress in the form of a supplemental appropriation bill. This will make both the funding source and the proposed items of expenditures more transparent, not only to Congress but to the Filipino people,” De Leon wrote in his paper, published in November 2025. – Rappler.com How does this make you feel? Loading