The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is targeting to more than double its budget to nearly ₱200 billion in 2026 to fund the administration’s big-ticket transportation projects after last year’s massive cut.

Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon said he is seeking a budget of about ₱197 billion for the agency next year, up from the 2025 budget of ₱87.24 billion.

Dizon said this proposed increase is to essentially return what was cut in the DOTr’s proposed budget for this year, which stood at ₱180.9 billion.

“So, basically, what was lost this year, we just added it back, we just returned it,” he said in a television interview.

Under the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP), which details the proposed national budget for the year, the DOTr requested its funding to jump 145 percent to ₱180.9 billion from a 2024 budget of ₱73.9 billion.

According to the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD), 85 percent of the DOTr’s proposed funding was to cover operations, the bulk of which is allotted to the government’s rail transit program.

A little over nine percent was earmarked for personnel services, and six percent for maintenance and other operating expenses.

The proposed higher budget was approved by both congressional panels overseeing the national budget.

However, during the bicameral conference committee comprised of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, the proposal was cut by about ₱92 billion.

The massive cut was retained when President Marcos officially put pen to paper to the 2025 national budget or the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Then-DOTr secretary Jaime Bautista said the majority of the items that were cut from the department’s budget were foreign-assisted projects, which he was quoted as saying would only have a “very minor effect” since they can still be funded through loan proceeds.

Based on CPBRD’s budget overview, the DOTr’s proposed budget was flagged over the agency’s consistent low budget obligation and disbursement rates.

During budget interpellations in the lower chamber, lawmakers grilled the DOTr over its obligation rate of 64.89 percent and

disbursement rate of 37.78 percent during its 2023 budget.

Dizon, who assumed office in February after Bautista’s resignation, said the agency “lost a lot” from the reduced budget this year.

Despite this, he said the DOTr has been active in fast-tracking key infrastructure projects aimed at alleviating the commuter experience.

“We are expediting projects that will truly help our fellow Filipinos. That’s what we’re trying to do this year, to show Congress that we are capable of utilizing the budget, and utilizing it the right way,” the official said.

With the budget next year, the DOTr is expected to request for higher funding for its foreign-assisted projects such as the long-delayed Metro Manila Subway Project and the North-South Commuter Railway.

It remains to be seen whether this would be supported by the legislative branch.

However, President Marcos himself said in his latest podcast episode that the biggest problem in this year’s budget was the removal of funding for foreign-assisted projects.

He earlier vowed during his recent State of the Nation Address (SONA) that he will reject any approved budget from Congress that does not fully align with the NEP.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is expected to submit the proposed 2026 national budget of ₱6.793 trillion before Congress next week.