Filipinos are set to enjoy eight long weekends next year as President Marcos issued Proclamation No. 1006 listing the regular and special nonworking days for 2026. Based on the proclamation, signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Sept. 3, the regular holidays for 2026 are the following:...
President Marcos is open to ordering a “sweeping review” of the proposed 2026 budget across government agencies, not just the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Malacañang said. Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said this after lawmakers flagged alleged anomalies in the...
Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Thursday, September 4 said that while the House of Representatives cannot return the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2026 back to Malacañang to fix the “mangled” entries there, another option is available. For instance, Lacson said the Department of...
Lawmakers from the House of Representatives pressed for a higher 2026 budget for the Department of Tourism (DOT) and its attached agencies as they highlighted the sector’s role in driving economic growth and supporting community development. The DOT, led by Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco,...
The Department of Education (DepEd) is seeking P928.5 billion for its 2026 budget—a near-trillion-peso proposal that would fund new classrooms, additional teachers, and nationwide learning recovery initiatives. If approved, the budget would mark one of the largest single-year allocations in...
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...
The Department of Education (DepEd) announced on Wednesday, September 2, that it is studying a historic policy shift that would allow local government units (LGUs) to directly participate in classroom construction—marking a potential departure from the long-standing reliance on the Department of...
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...
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...
