MANILA — President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. announced that funds from canceled flood control projects in 2026 will be realigned to priority sectors including education, health, agriculture, housing, infrastructure, ICT, labor, social services, and energy, with a clear spending “menu” to guide lawmakers.

In a Palace briefing, Marcos said the menu has been drawn up to ensure that the realigned funds will be properly used in next year’s national budget.

“Now since we have cancelled all flood control projects for 2026, those savings, we already put a menu para nga unang-una, kahit na for the budget na sinusulat ngayon, kailangan na maliwanag na maliwanag na mapupunta sa tamang lugar,” the President said.

He explained that the menu will guide legislators in making budget adjustments.

“So we have made a menu for our legislators to follow, then say that all insertions, all changes made can only be made to the benefit of these agencies,” Marcos stressed.

The President added that the move is a first step toward transparency and accountability in the allocation of government resources following recent revelations of irregularities in infrastructure spending.

While no new funds will be allotted for flood control projects in the 2026 budget, Marcos clarified that the PhP350 billion budget already earmarked for 2025 must first be fully utilized.

The cancellation of flood control projects and the preparation of a priority spending plan follow the establishment of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) to investigate anomalies in flood control projects over the last 10 years.