Filipino teachers kicked off National Teachers’ Month 2025 on September 3 with a powerful protest demanding higher pay and a bigger education budget. The protest, staged at the House of Representatives, saw members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines urging lawmakers to...
Despite recent pronouncements by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) that one more policy rate cut before year-end would maintain the “Goldilocks” level, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) still forecasts two more reductions at each of the two remaining Monetary Board (MB) interest rate...
The Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday, September 2, welcomed President Marcos’ historic allocation of P1.224 trillion to the education sector under the proposed 2026 national budget—marking the first time the Philippines has met the UNESCO-recommended benchmark of spending four percent...
Senator Erwin Tulfo on Tuesday called on the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to be proactive in flagging questionable items in the National Expenditures Program (NEP) to ensure that there were no insertions from politicians. “Lahat po naman kayo dito sa Executive, well wala pa nung...
Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Tuesday, September 2 called on Malacañang to draw up a “negative list” of infrastructure projects that cannot be funded under the 2026 national budget and should be vetoed outright by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Escudero said these should be...
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...
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) was warned on Monday, September 1 not to become an “accessory” again by prioritizing flood control projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) over the country’s education sector in the P6.79 trillion national budget for 2026. ...
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said on Saturday, Aug. 30, that he already flagged questionable allocations in the budget request of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for 2026, similar to what Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson had already exposed. In an interview with DWIZ, Gatchalian...
Senator Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri said on Friday, Aug. 29, that the national budget is being utilized for what he called a "money-making racket", a difference that he noted when it came to their role of scrutinizing it. According to Zubiri, when it comes to the budget process, parliamentary...
The national government’s fiscal deficit widened to ₱784.4 billion in the first seven months of the year, a 22 percent jump compared with ₱642.8 billion in the same period last year, even as the budget gap narrowed in July alone. Still, the year-to-date fiscal deficit remains “well within...
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)+3 policymakers, including the Philippines, are urged to balance near-term spending with long-term fiscal discipline as shrinking fiscal space and rising debt costs stress the need for consolidation to meet climate- and aging-related demands, according...
Urging full transparency and greater investment in education and human capital, an advocacy group on Saturday, August 23, called on lawmakers to prioritize Filipinos over infrastructure as they tackle the 2026 budget. “We must allocate our resources where they matter most, because every peso...
