Malacañang has signaled it is prepared to defend the 2026 national budget before the Supreme Court (SC), as critics — including lawmakers and even the President’s sister —warned the spending plan bears the hallmarks of pork-barrel manipulation disguised through the fragmentation of allocations.

Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said the administration is ready to respond to any petition questioning the constitutionality of the P6.793-trillion 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Castro was reacting to Caloocan 2nd District Rep. Edgar Erice’s statement that he may challenge the budget before the SC if not all the Unprogrammed Appropriations were vetoed.

“When a petition is filed, the administration will respond, and we will await the decision of the Supreme Court,” said Castro, adding that any citizen has the right to seek judicial clarification once the budget becomes law.

Castro maintained that Malacañang conducted a thorough review before President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed the GAA, insisting that the budget is “clean, organized, and for the people.”

That claim, however, collided head-on with the sharp criticism of Senator Imee Marcos, who described the 2026 budget as “giniling,” or ground meat, a reference to what she claimed was the deliberate breaking up of allocations to obscure who would benefit and who would be deprived.

“When the pieces are big, it’s hard to hide them. That’s why it was ground — so you don’t immediately see who is being fed and who is being starved,” she said in a statement on Tuesday. “This is not austerity, this is a slaughter.”

She cited the sharp reduction in funding for foreign-assisted transport projects, including the Metro Manila Subway and the North-South Commuter Railway, which was dropped to P49.2 billion from P121.5 billion.

President’s veto

The senator also pointed to flood control and bridge projects that were either cut or fragmented, warning that the pattern mirrored earlier controversies.

“Floods are everywhere, yet the funds are dry. Then we wonder why people are angry,” she said. “Ground pork is still pork.”

Her remarks came after her brother, the President, vetoed P92.5-billion worth of Unprogrammed Appropriations, paring down the total unprogrammed funds from P243.4 billion to P150.9-billion, the lowest since 2019.

Still, critics argued the veto addressed symptoms, not structure.

The controversy over the 2026 national budget cannot be separated from the unresolved scandals surrounding the 2025 spending plan, which opposition lawmakers and civil society groups branded as the “most corrupt budget ever passed.”

That label stemmed largely from the explosion of flood control allocations — ballooning by the tens of billions of pesos — many of which were later linked to questionable contractors, vague project descriptions, and places with no history of flooding.

The Commission on Audit flagged multiple projects for deficiencies, including missing feasibility studies and incomplete documentation.

It was in this context that expelled Representative Zaldy Co publicly alleged that billions of pesos in kickbacks were siphoned off from flood control projects, implicating political patrons and, controversially, accusing President Marcos of ultimately benefiting from the scheme.

Benefits cut

Malacañang has repeatedly denied the allegations, calling them baseless and politically motivated, but no comprehensive independent audit has yet laid the issue to rest.

Critics now warn that the 2026 budget’s structure — particularly the continued use of Unprogrammed Appropriations and fragmented infrastructure items — risks repeating the same playbook under a new name.

The administration has also moved aggressively to counter claims that the 2026 budget undermines government workers’ benefits.

Castro, relaying the Department of Budget and Management’s position, denied reports of delayed salary increases and retirement benefits, particularly for teachers and uniformed personnel.

“There is news circulating that salary increases and retirement benefits will be delayed or affected. This is not true. No funds were removed,” she said.

“The reported P24 billion was not cut or canceled. It was merely transferred to the proper agencies for faster and clearer disbursement,” Castro explained.

She noted that salaries and approved salary increases remain fully funded, pensions are intact, and contingency and pension funds remain available should additional needs arise.

Senate Finance Committee chair Sherwin Gatchalian has defended the 2026 budget, claiming that safeguards were put in place to prevent abuse and that itemized allocations replaced lump-sum practices that previously enabled “ghost projects,” particularly in flood control.

He said the education sector’s P1.35-trillion allocation would immediately address classroom backlogs, teacher shortages, and feeding programs, while farm-to-market road funding was expanded to benefit rural areas beyond Metro Manila.