With the President-backed bloc securing a midterm poll victory over the Duterte-aligned camp, Moody’s Analytics said the outcome could help ensure smoother continuity of the administration’s economic and governance policies.

“In the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration appears to have secured a narrow yet strategically important victory over a bloc aligned with the Duterte family in the May 12 midterm election,” Moody’s Analytics said in a report published on Monday, May 19.

According to Moody’s Analytics, “this outcome would support policy continuity around matters of economics and governance.”

The Marcos administration’s Senate slate secured six out of 12 available seats in this year’s elections. While this shows continued support, it fell short of pre-election expectations of up to eight seats. Meanwhile, candidates backed by the Duterte camp won four seats.

Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman told Manila Bulletin on Monday, May 19, that with the upcoming 20th Congress, the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) will convene as there is a “need to make sure” major bills are included in their priority measures.

“We need to get champions in both the Senate and the House of Representatives to sponsor the bills,” the Budget chief said.

“We need to make sure it’s included in the LEDAC priority measures or common legislative agenda. With the new Congress, I’m sure LEDAC will convene,” she told Manila Bulletin.

Specifically, the administration’s top priority bills include the Progressive Budgeting for Better and Modernized (PBBM) Governance Act and the Optimization Bill—formerly known as the Rightsizing Bill.

“But [I’m] hoping it will be passed in the remaining days when they resume session before the new Congress,” Pangandaman said.

Other top priorities include the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill and several tax measures led by the Department of Finance (DOF).

LEDAC is a high-level body that helps align the President’s development plans with congressional budgeting. It serves as a platform for building consensus across key economic sectors.

National Socioeconomic Planner Arsenio Balisacan said last week that in the next three years, the focus of the government should be on deepening structural and policy reforms and aligning government spending with strategic priorities.

This includes addressing key investor concerns, particularly improving the ease of doing business.

“While we have progressed much, we need to be faster in addressing those concerns because our neighbors are moving even faster. We have to make the country more globally and regionally competitive,” Balisacan said.

He said continuing infrastructure development is also crucial, particularly in addressing connectivity issues—not just physical connectivity like transport, but increasingly, digital connectivity.

“In the coming three years, we really need to work closely with Congress to ensure that the budget that is passed and approved supports impactful and strategic priorities. Strategic in the sense that they address the very concerns of low productivity, more inclusive growth, faster poverty reduction, [and] better quality of employment.

“That should be our standard when evaluating how limited resources are used—especially now that we are implementing a fiscal consolidation program.

“We need to reduce the deficit and lower the debt as a proportion of GDP [gross domestic product] because that sends positive signals. It builds greater confidence in the economy and can lead to better market rates for our financing. This would lower the cost of borrowing—not just for the government, but more importantly, for the private sector and businesses,” Balisacan said.