P27.3-B proposed OP budget for 2026 breezes through Senate panel

Observing tradition and the longstanding parliamentary courtesy accorded to a coequal branch of government, the Senate committee on finance swiftly approved on Wednesday the proposed P27.3-billion budget for the Office of the President (OP) for 2026, marking it “deemed submitted” for plenary consideration.

The OP requested a 72-percent increase for 2026 compared to its P15.8 billion budget this year.

Also approved by the Senate committee was the budget for the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) which sought P882 million, up by P10 million compared to this year’s P872.6 million.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who represented the Office of the President at the budget hearing, attributed the hike to the country’s hosting of the 2026 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit and meetings.

Funding for the Asean events will take up around 64.3 percent of the OP’s total proposed budget, with the rest going to regular OP programs, activities and projects.

Bersamin expressed confidence that the Philippines’ chairmanship of the Asean next year will further improve its standing as a founding member of the regional grouping.

Cybersecurity challenges

Undersecretary Leonardo Roy Cervantes of the Office of the Executive Secretary said that cybersecurity could be a potential issue in such a large event and a huge challenge for the government, considering that world leaders will be in attendance.

“We have to basically be able to show the world we can host this without any glitch. And we’re hoping that during the summit, we will not be cyber-attacked […] That would be a big embarrassment for our country,” Cervantes said.

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“Aside from the traditional challenges of hosting a lot of state leaders, we have to secure them. We have to be able to prepare the cities that will host those meetings. That’s also a big challenge for us,” he added.

Cervantes said there are two large summits slated—the first one in May, and the second in October or November.

He added that about 32 heads of state were expected to attend: 11 for the first one and 21 in the next.

The OP and PMS budgets will now be taken up by the plenary subject to the submission of documents requested by senators, according to Senate finance committee chair Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.