The government is looking to include 5,059 priority programs and projects (PAPs), with an investment requirement of almost ₱4.03 trillion, in the proposed 2027 national budget to sustain public investments, especially in infrastructure as well as social development.

According to the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev), the latest update to the Public Investment Program (PIP) 2023-2028, as of March this year, showed that 52 government offices as well as 230 attached agencies, along with 112 state universities and colleges (SUCs), are seeking funding totaling over ₱15.22 trillion for 6,814 PAPs identified as priorities of the Marcos Jr. administration.

The six-year PIP, updated every year ahead of national budget preparations for the succeeding fiscal year (FY), contains the rolling list of PAPs to be implemented by the national government (NG), government-owned and/or -controlled corporations (GOCCs), as well as other NG offices during the current administration.

For 2027, the updated PIP aims to roll out the 5,059 PAPs, of which the implementation of 912 ongoing PAPs belongs to the so-called Tier 1 of the budget proposal, requiring funding worth ₱2.77 trillion.

The remaining 4,147 PAPs are new or expansion initiatives under Tier 2, with a total investment requirement of ₱1.26 trillion. DEPDev said these Tier 2 PAPs “shall be subject to the availability of fiscal space.”

These investment requirements come as the Marcos Jr. administration prepares a record-high ₱7.2-trillion national budget proposal for next year.

Infrastructure expansion and upgrading under the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028 continues to have the largest share in investment targets across the PIP, amounting to ₱9.53 trillion across 1,157 PAPs. PDP 2023-2028 serves as the Marcos Jr. administration’s medium-term socioeconomic blueprint.

Outside infrastructure, investments in health, education and lifelong learning, livable communities, as well as social protection require a combined ₱2.99 trillion across 2,853 PAPs. Agriculture and agribusiness modernization, meanwhile, entails ₱1.33 trillion in investments across 440 PAPs.

The updated PIP also includes 287 agency regional-national investment projects (ARNIPs) endorsed by 13 NG agencies following agreements reached with Regional Development Councils (RDCs) during the third regional-national investment programming dialogue held in November last year. The participating agencies are the departments of Agriculture (DA), Education (DepEd), Energy (DOE), Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Health (DOH), Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Science and Technology (DOST), Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Transportation (DOTr), as well as state-run National Irrigation Administration (NIA).

DEPDev also noted that around 13 percent of the total 8,500 PAPs submitted for inclusion in the updated PIP remained non-developmental in nature and formed part of the negative list, while many proposals from SUCs were administrative or non-programmatic. As such, only around four percent of SUC PAPs qualified for inclusion in the TRIP, although 84 percent were retained in the broader PIP.

“The challenge at this stage is to further prioritize among the list of PAPs included in the PIP given the tight fiscal space,” DEPDev said.

According to DEPDev, the 2027 budget priorities framework released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed that the ₱815.57-billion Tier 1 budget ceiling may accommodate only about 30 percent of Tier 1 PAPs in the updated PIP, while half of the investment requirement for TRIP PAPs may be funded under the 2027 infrastructure program approved by the Cabinet-level, interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) in December last year.