Marcos warned: P633-B 'hard, soft, shadow pork' in 2026 budgetMANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has two days to decide on the P6.793-trillion national budget, with watchdog groups warning that over P633 billion could fuel corruption or patronage politics without a veto or executive order. In a letter addressed to Marcos himself, the People’s Budget Coalition and Roundtable for Inclusive Development said the 2026 national budget is riddled with three types of pork: hard, soft and shadow pork. The “hard pork,” they said, involves roughly P180 billion worth of infrastructure projects that are at risk of being repeated or overpriced. Soft pork to rights-based programsFor “soft pork,” which they define as politician-mediated and discretionary programs, the watchdogs urged that the P210 billion in “ayuda” or cash dole-outs be redesigned as rights-based and rules-based programs. Still, the reforms must go further, including stronger civil society participation and the creation of an Open Budget Transparency Server, an idea already partly realized through BetterGov’s public budget dashboard, the group noted.

Source: Philippine Star January 03, 2026 16:47 UTC