Malacañang said the Marcos administration will start working on its proposed budget for 2023 after President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has delivered his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 25.
In an interview, Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez said all of the Executive Branch's efforts were geared toward the SONA, and they would attend to other matters after the event.
The Palace official said Marcos has a whole month to work on the budget.
"We have to look into the budget and his --- anyway, he's given by law 30 days from the opening of Congress to submit his budget proposal to both houses of Congress --- I mean to Congress," he said.
Early this month, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said the different departments under the Executive Branch are working around the existing budget passed under the previous administration.
The Duterte administration passed a P5. 024 trillion national budget for 2022. According to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), this is equivalent to 23.3 percent of the gross domestic product and larger by 11.5 percent than the FY 2021 budget.
Angeles said the present administration does not a say on the current budget as it was proposed by and already implemented by the Duterte administration for the first six months of 2022. They would have more input on the first full-year budget the Marcos government will propose covering the entire 2023.
"Doon sa mga departamento, yung budget po ay (For the departments, their budgets are) drawn up already in accordance with the previous administration," she said.
"Wala po kaming input masyado doon. Hihintayin po natin ‘yung susunod po na budget doon po ‘yung may input talaga ang present administration (We don't have much input there. We'll wait for the next budget and that is where the present administration will have input)," she added.