More calls to tweak 2026 budget in favor of social services
Another civil society group has called on the Senate to make major adjustments in the draft 2026 national budget in favor of social services, as it questioned several allocations in the current version of the General Appropriations Bill.
Social Watch Philippines (SWP), one of the organizations accredited by Congress to observe the 2026 budget process, proposed an additional P233.2 billion for the Universal Health Care (UHC) Program under the Department of Health (DOH); programs for marginalized learners; child protection and mental health; and support for persons with disabilities; among other items.
They are the second budget watchdog, after another accredited group People’s Budget Coalition, to call on Congress to pare down allocations for pet assistance programs, confidential and intelligence funds, unprogrammed appropriations, and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac).
More for DOH hospitals
For the health sector, SWP warned that the UHC program remained “underfunded.” The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) earlier asked for P242 billion but was allocated only P113 billion, sourced from the original P53 billion in the National Expenditure Program and P60 billion from the budget cut from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
The group also sought an additional P28 billion for inclusive education programs, such as the Indigenous Peoples Education, Special Needs Education, Madrasah Education, and the Alternative Learning System (ALS). Currently, these programs constitute merely 2 percent of the total Department of Education (DepEd) budget, SWP noted.
This is despite increases in subsidies for private schools, the group said, which could further “widen educational inequalities.”
SWP also recommended an additional P122 million for 38 DOH hospitals with Women and Children Protection Units, which provide medical and psychosocial care especially for child victims of violence and sexual abuse.
The group stressed the need for additional funding in this area as it noted that, in 2022 alone, a total of 471,416 children in the country were trafficked and exploited to produce pornographic materials.
Of the 92,000 reports of online sexual abuse filed that year, a staggering 94.5 percent involved child pornography, it added.
Proposed reallocations
SWP also pushed for a P2,000 monthly allowance for persons with severe disabilities to help cover therapy, assistive devices, home modifications, and transportation costs, as well as an additional P23.582 million to promote Filipino Sign Language (FSL) inclusion for Deaf persons by strengthening the FSL unit in the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino.
To be able to fund these programs, SWP suggested reallocating portions of the P10.5 billion that the House of Representatives appropriated for itself; P10 billion from the presidential assistance to farmers and fisherfolk program; P16.8 billion from farm-to-market road projects; and the P49.2 billion allocated to the DOH’s Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients Program (Maifip) program.
The group also proposed removing P14.8 billion from the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Tulong Pangkabuhayan sa Ating Disadvantaged Workers (Tupad); P32 billion from the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS); and P132.3 billion from the DPWH’s Sustainable Infrastructure Projects Alleviating Gaps (Sipag) projects.
The recommendations were made as the Senate began deliberating last week on the 2026 budget, amid growing pressure to avoid repeating the controversies that marked the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
One of them was the recent allegation made by the former House appropriations committee chair, resigned Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co, who accused President Marcos and then Speaker Martin Romualdez of getting P56 billion in kickbacks from at least P100 billion worth of insertions in the 2025 GAA.
Malacañang and the former House leader dismissed Co’s claim as hearsay and without basis.
