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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Local projects should dominate 2026 national budget, Lacson says

Local projects should dominate 2026 national budget, Lacson says

Published Sep 2, 2025 12:06 pm

At A Glance

  • Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson lamented the low adoption of local development projects in the proposed National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2026, noting that only 19.9 percent of the proposals from local development councils were included.
Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson (Senate PRIB photo)
Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson (Senate PRIB photo)

Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson lamented the low adoption of local development projects in the proposed National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2026, noting that only 19.9 percent of the proposals from local development councils were included.

“I noticed that only 19.9 percent of projects proposed by the Local Development Councils were adopted in the NEP,” Lacson said during Monday’s plenary session.

”It seems local development plans were neglected again,” he noted. 

According to Lacson, he had expected local development programs to make up the bulk of projects in the NEP, or if not, at least 30 to 40 percent.

Lacson believes one cause of this is the schedule of submission of regional development councils. 

By the time the local development councils submit their proposals in October, the budget call, which starts in January, is long over.

To fix this, Lacson proposed an adjustment of the schedules for the submission by local development councils of their local development programs to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Lacson said regional development councils must finalize their proposals by the end of December, and submit them to the DBM in time for the budget call.

The senator pointed out that the Regional Development Councils are in a good position to craft local development programs because their members include governors who know the needs and priorities of their constituents; and representatives from the DBM and Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DepDev).

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