PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. expressed support for the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) proposal to cap unprogrammed appropriations (UAs) at 3 percent of the national budget, Malacañang said on Thursday.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said the DBM is currently drafting the proposed Philippine budgeting code aimed at institutionalizing key fiscal reforms, including clearer parameters governing the level, scope and conditions for the release of the unprogrammed appropriations.
“A central policy intention under the proposed reform is to ensure that unprogrammed appropriations are confined to a limited and clearly defined purpose, thereby preventing its use as a broad or discretionary funding mechanism and enforcing fiscal discipline,” Castro said during a press briefing.
“The draft measure will be submitted for review by the economic team, the executive secretary and ultimately the president,” she added.
The Palace official said the proposal remained under policy development and interagency consultation.
“As a matter of fiscal policy direction, the DBM’s position is to adopt a more prudent and disciplined approach by setting the level of unprogrammed appropriations at a rate lower than 5 percent of the total national budget based on historical data and fiscal trends,” Castro said.
“The precise threshold, however, will remain subject to further deliberation and the president’s approval in the context of the proposed budgeting code,” she added.
Acting Budget Secretary Rolando Toledo on Tuesday pushed to further trim the share of UA in the 2027 national budget to ramp up the “cleaning” of public funds.
Toledo said he wanted to cap UAs at 3 percent of the total budget, lower than the 5-percent ceiling earlier proposed by former Budget secretary Amenah Pangandaman.
“As much as possible, it’s still going to be low because that is one of the issues that was raised — not only in the budget preparation, but also in the deliberation in the legislative process,” he said.
UAs have long been contentious, particularly after the eruption of the flood control corruption scandal that triggered calls for stricter oversight in budget planning and execution.
Under the 2026 national budget, the UA stands at P150.9 billion, significantly reduced from the nearly P250 billion initially proposed by the DBM.
This marks the lowest UA level since 2019 and accounts for just 2.2 percent of the P6.793-trillion budget for the year.
Data from the DBM showed UA allocations have steadily declined, falling to P150.9 billion in 2026 from P363.4 billion in 2025, and far below the P731.4 billion in 2024 and P807.2 billion in 2023.
