Over four consecutive budget cycles from 2023 to 2026, hundreds of billions of pesos allocated for infrastructure projects like airports, railways, and flood control were stripped from the national budget. This led to idle loans, escalating costs, and harm to communities. According to a former budget secretary, this defunding did not save money but wasted it.
In 2023, the executive branch proposed ₱210 billion for foreign-assisted projects (FAPs), but ₱158 billion was removed during the budget approval process. For 2024, ₱246 billion was suggested, with ₱242 billion stripped away. In 2025, ₱216 billion was planned, but at least ₱118 billion was cut, and in 2026, ₱283 billion was proposed with ₱190 billion deprogrammed, including ₱93 billion vetoed by the president.
Overall, nearly ₱800 billion in projects were affected across four years. These initiatives, already approved and negotiated with institutions like the Asian Development Bank and World Bank, became unusable due to missing government counterpart funds and authorization. As a result, the government paid hundreds of millions of pesos in commitment fees for idle loans, while delays caused higher costs from rebidings and redesigns.
Butch Abad, former secretary of the Department of Budget and Management, stated, "Defunding foreign-assisted projects did not save money. It wasted it." Funds were redirected to smaller, locally controlled projects that offer quick political visibility but often prove substandard or ineffective, as revealed by investigations from the Senate blue ribbon committee and Independent Commission for Infrastructure. This erodes investor confidence, contributes to declining foreign direct investment, and disproportionately burdens poor communities facing floods and congestion.
While Congress bears primary responsibility for the removals, the executive faces criticism for insufficient defense of these projects. The outcome: stalled infrastructure, slowed growth, and systemic waste of public funds.
