All for self-preservation

A review of the vetoed items indicates that many were essential to the government’s development agenda and will be lost unless Congress enacts a supplemental appropriation.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s partial veto of P92.5 million of the P243.5-billion Unprogrammed Appropriations (UA) does not serve the purpose of fiscal discipline, as claimed by Executive Secretary Ralph Recto.

Only the entire deletion of the anomaly, along with the inserted pork projects, from the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA) will cleanse the budget of aberrations.

Under Article VI, Section 27 of the Constitution, the President’s item veto of appropriations permanently deletes the vetoed items from the budget law.

They are treated as if they never existed in the enacted GAA, or Republic Act 12314 for 2026.

Since the UA lacks funding sources to begin with, vetoing them precludes their consideration.

The President cannot “reclassify” or move vetoed items to programmed status, as his veto power is negative (to delete), not affirmative (to add, restore, or alter), according to a budget expert. Attempting to revert them to the budget would violate the separation of powers, he said.

Despite the veto, pork projects remain embedded in the spending plan. The UA is stuffed with regular items that were displaced by the insertions of legislators.

What was retained in the UA was also questionable, according to budget watchdogs.

Among the items pinpointed was the retention of the P50-billion Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program, which duplicates the funding already provided under the P40-billion Special Purpose Fund (SPF) of the President.

Similar to the UA, the SPF is a discretionary fund under Mr. Marcos’ control, meaning that for 2026 he controls P90 billion in lump-sum allocations for the AFP Modernization Program.

The veto of certain UA items could derail industrial policy, including the removal of the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Fiscal Support Arrearages for the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy and the Revitalizing the Automotive Industry for Competitiveness Enhancement programs.

The projects were included in DTI’s budget proposal to boost the automotive industry. Still, Congress deprioritized them by transferring them from the National Expenditure Program to the UA and ultimately the measures were vetoed.

The move underscored the anti-developmental nature of the budget.

Instead, many of the line items that budget watchdogs proposed be taken out were ignored by the President despite clear red flags, such as last-minute insertions, duplications and the absence of implementation safeguards.

Many of the flagged items were prepared outside public view and without sufficient justification.

The quid pro quo veto was a missed opportunity for the President to protect public funds and demonstrate leadership in combating brazen corruption and patronage politics.

Budget watchers also view Mr. Marcos’ failure to veto obvious pork items as an endorsement that legitimizes corruption and political patronage.

Transparency and accountability in the budget, which Recto had been promoting when he was Finance Secretary, are absent from the 2026 national budget.

Instead, the GAA has clearly become a device for deal-making to protect Mr. Marcos’ self-interest.