A briefly reenacted 2025 budget would be preferable to rushing the passage of the 2026 version only to find it unresponsive to the needs of the times – or worse, prone to corruption, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson said Wednesday.
Lacson said this after Executive Secretary Ralph Recto was quoted as saying President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is to sign the P6.793-trillion budget for 2026 in the first week of January, meaning a reenacted budget for a few days.
He also reiterated that the key, even after the budget is finally signed into law, should still be continued vigilance in monitoring, reporting, and even shaming wrongdoing in government.
“This is exactly what I said earlier – better a reenacted budget in January, or even in the first quarter of 2026, than rushing the passage of a national budget that is not responsive to the call of the times, amidst the yet unresolved investigations on the misuse and abuse of the current and previous expenditure programs, particularly involving flood control projects,” said Lacson, a long-time watchdog of the national budget.
In Filipino: Lacson: Panandaliang Reenacted 2025 Budget, Mas Mainam kaysa Minadali at Corruption-Prone na 2026 Budget