Balisacan vows no further delays for Japan-funded projects
Published Jan 16, 2026 03:21 pm
DEPDev Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan
The Philippine government sought to reassure international lenders that major infrastructure works will proceed on schedule despite a significant reduction in standby funds within the national budget.
Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said Friday, Jan. 16, that foreign-funded initiatives, particularly those backed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), face no further risks of delay.
“The foreign-funded projects will be funded, and there will be no further delays,” Balisacan told Manila Bulletin.
He noted that Japanese officials had sought clarifications on recent fiscal adjustments, which the government has since addressed.
“They just wanted a clarification, and we clarified it. We provided them an explanation,” he added.
The assurance comes as the Marcos administration navigates a tighter fiscal landscape. The national government reduced unprogrammed appropriations in the 2026 budget to ₱150.9 billion, the lowest level of standby funding since 2019.
The contraction in the budget’s “standby” category directly affects the accounting of projects like the Metro Manila Subway and the North-South Commuter Railway, which rely heavily on Official Development Assistance.
Balisacan, however, said that the government is committed to honoring its obligations to foreign partners even as it manages limited resources.
The Marcos administration will work within the current fiscal space to ensure that flagship projects remain on track, he added.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said the reduction in unprogrammed funds was a deliberate strategy to enhance transparency. These funds are not guaranteed outlays; rather, they serve as spending authority that can only be tapped if revenue collections exceed targets or if new loans are secured.
Budget Secretary Rolly Toledo said the move aims to "clean up" the budget and prevent the potential for abuse.
The 2026 allocation represents a sharp pivot from recent fiscal years. Unprogrammed appropriations peaked at ₱807.2 billion in 2023 and stood at ₱731.4 billion as recently as 2024. The current ₱150.9 billion figure is even lower than the ₱176.3 billion recorded in 2021 during the height of the pandemic.
Toledo dismissed concerns that these funds function as discretionary “pork barrel” spending, asserting that strict legal conditions govern any disbursement.
He described the unprogrammed fund as a safety net rather than a shortcut for political spending, promising that every release will be documented and justified to maintain fiscal discipline.