Daiven Monforte

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) submitted the proposed P6.352 trillion national budget, or National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2025 to the House of Representatives on Monday, July 29. 

Photo Courtesy of House of Representatives.

This is a 10.1 percent increase compared to the 2024 national budget and accounts for 22% of the country’s gross domestic product.

Amounting to P977.6 billion or 15% of the nat’l budget will be allocated to the Department of Education (DepEd), State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), the Commission on Higher Education, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). 

The budget has been reduced by 1% compared to this year’s budget. Despite this reduction, the allocation for the education sector remains the largest share, according to DBM.

The budget for public works, which includes climate change expenditure and flood management programs, also receives over P900 billion or 14% of the nat’l budget, making it the second-largest allocation after education.

Around 4% of the budget is allocated to health, and the remaining allocation includes the following agencies:
  • Department of Health (DOH): Php 297.6 billion
  • Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG): Php 278.4 billion
  • Department of National Defense (DND): Php 256.1 billion
  • Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD): Php 230.1 billion
  • Department of Agriculture (DA): Php 211.3 billion
  • Department of Transportation (DOTr): Php 180.9 billion
  • Judiciary: Php 63.6 billion
  • Department of Justice (DOJ): Php 40.6 billion
The allocation for Confidential and Intelligence Funds in the NEP was reduced to P10.2 billion from the 2024 P12 billion budget.

The DBM also allocated P15 billion to support automated national and local elections to ensure transparent, reliable, and digitalized midterm elections this year. The budget also includes additional honorariums for poll watchers.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. approved the proposed P6.352 trillion NEP for 2025, as announced by the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) on July 2.

PCO stated that this would reinforce the main pillars of the administration’s Philippine Development Plan for 2023-2028.

“You see a really good thing,” Marcos said during a Cabinet meeting in Malacañang with DBM Secretary Pangandaman, where she presented the proposed national budget for 2025.