Two of the country’s biggest business organizations, the Makati Business Club (MBC) and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), both hailed the signing of the P6.793-trillion 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA) by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., but aired contentions on some provisions, particularly with regard to Unprogrammed Appropriatioins (UA).

“We believe the President should have taken more aggressive action on constitutionally questionable Unprogrammed Appropriatioins, because we believe they could be subject to discretionary disbursement, or patronage. Many of these are social welfare programs, falling under the heading of ayuda, which we classify as “soft pork,” MBC said in a statement on Tuesday.

The MBC said the President has promised that politicians will not be allowed to intervene in the allocation of ayuda funds, but more than a verbal reassurance, they are requesting an Executive Order to create rights-based and rules-based mechanisms to govern the disbursement of ayuda funds, and to strictly limit confidential and intelligence funds to legitimate security uses.

President responsive to private sector feedback

The MBC acknowledged President Marcos Jr.’s vetoing P92.5 billion unprogrammed appropriations which, the club said, shows that the President is responsive to feedback from the private sector.

Meanwhile, the MBC has called for more transparency, pointing out that the “Sumbong Sa Pangulo” platform only provided half the picture on plunder in flood control projects.

“Hundreds of billions of pesos worth of these projects were not on the platform. The public needs access to the full PhilGEPS (government procurement system) data set for complete scrutiny. The 2026 General Appropriations Act is an improved budget compared to those of the previous years, both in terms of allocation focus and in the improved process transparency,” said the MBC.