Anti-corruption groups denounced Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s 2026 national budget, saying the president is preserving the pork barrel system in the PhP6.793 trillion Republic Act 12314 signed Monday morning.
While government touts Marcos’ veto of ₱92.5 billion worth of Unprogrammed Appropriations, the Makabayan coalition of progressive lawmakers said the president guarantees systemic corruption by keeping “allocables” in this year’s budget.
“President Marcos has ensured the continuation of the most entrenched system of corruption in government—one that involves lawmakers, DPWH officials, and private contractors in a well-oiled machinery of kickbacks, overpricing, and ghost projects,” Makabayan said in a statement following the signing ceremony in Malacanang.
The controversial “allocables” system allows members of Congress to identify infrastructure projects in their districts, which investigations revealed are then implemented by DPWH with bloated costs and questionable quality.
“This is the very definition of pork barrel, rebranded and legitimized through the national budget,” ACT Teachers, Kabataan Youth and Gabriela Women’s partylists said.
Makabayan revealed the national budget contains the following pork:
- -₱73.2 billion local government pork, including the ₱15.33 billion Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Assistance Program carved out from the Calamity Fund;
- -₱8 billion generals’ pork under the NTF-ELCAC’s Support to Barangay Development Program;
- -₱11 billion in Confidential and Intelligence Funds;
- -₱63.9 billion for AICS;
- -₱51.6 billion for MAIFIP; and
- -₱22.4 billion for TUPAD.
“The President’s refusal to touch this system reveals his true priority: maintaining Malacañang’s hold on Congress through the distribution of billions in infrastructure funds. There are no genuine reforms, there is no genuine change. Only the preservation of a corrupt system that keeps him in power,” they added.
Tokenistic vetoes
With much pomp, Marcos signed the PhP6.793 trillion General Appropriations Act (GAA) on Monday he claims prioritizes the welfare of every Filipino and accountability in public spending.
“Kaisa ninyo ako sa pagnanais na masigurong ang bawat pisong buwis ay mapupunta sa tamang proyekto at sa tunay na pangangailangan ng ating taumbayan,” he said. (I am with you in wanting that every peso paid as tax goes to projects that responds to the needs of our people.)
Marcos vetoed seven provisions under Unprogrammed Appropriations worth 92.5 billion of the enrolled general appropriations bill submitted by the Congressional bicameral committee last December 28.
Makabayan however dismissed Marcos’ exclusion of the said items as a token gesture meant to distract from the billions in pork barrel funds that remain untouched in the signed budget.
“The President even had the audacity to highlight the bloated Local Government Support Fund (LGSF) during his speech, as if the ₱73.2 billion in LGU pork—including the ₱15.33 billion Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Assistance Program carved out from the Calamity Fund—is something to be proud of,” the Makabayan said.
The coalition added that the pork barrel sytem is a tool for political control, a mechanism to reward allies and punish critics, and a fund prone to abuse and corruption at every level of government.
Protests at the gate
Meanwhile, as Marcos signed the 2026 GAA, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan led a multi-sectoral protest rally in Mendiola denouncing the ceremony as “the final act in the passage of a rotten, pork-laden, and repressive national budget.
The group said Marcos’ budget clearly serves corrupt political dynasties, entitled legislators, favored contractors and bureaucrat capitalists as a whole at the expense of the people’s interests, welfare and development.
“The formulation of the 2026 budget began and now ends with Marcos Jr. His National Expenditure Program, which already carried massive discretionary and lump-sum items plus “allocables” for legislators, was further inserted with pork barrel and patronage funds by Congress and is capped with his signature that enacts a budget to be implemented by an Executive fully complicit in preserving corruption and political patronage,” it said in a statement.
In a separate statement, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) also denounced the budget bloated with multi-billion peso allocations for Farm-to-Market Roads (FMRs) that are another major conduit for corruption.
The movement pointed out that FMR allocations under the Department of Agriculture and other infrastructure programs ballooned to more than P33 billion that are far beyond original proposals.
“The Farm-to-Market Roads budget has long been one of the dirtiest pockets of corruption in the national budget, and the 2026 budget makes it even worse,” KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos said.
Instead of addressing farmers’ urgent needs, these funds are being used as congressional and executive pork that are open to political manipulation, kickbacks, and ghost or substandard projects,” Ramos added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
