The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) used a simple bilao—a winnowing basket—to explain how the Marcos administration’s proposed ₱7.2 trillion 2027 national budget is allocated.
Roughly half of the budget goes to salaries and pensions, more than 20% to infrastructure, and the remainder covering operating expenses, cash assistance, and the National Tax Allotment to local government units, DBM Undersecretary Mary Anne Dela Vega said Saturday.
Dela Vega made the breakdown in an interview on DZRH News program Special on Saturday on September 5, as part of the DZRH SONA 2026 Series featuring the DBM.
She said the single largest slice of the budget, roughly half, goes to the salaries and wages of government employees across all branches and agencies of the state.
“Ang budget po natin, kung titignan nating isang bilao, ang makikita pa rin po natin, halos kalahati n’un ay para sa mga pangsweldo ng iba’t ibang sangay ng gobyerno natin,” said Dela Vega, functional group head of the DBM’s Budget Preparation and Execution (BPE) Group.
The next slice, about 25 to 30%, covers maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), which Dela Vega said includes the day-to-day costs of running government offices, cash assistance programs for poor Filipinos, and the National Tax Allotment (NTA) distributed to local government units.
“Ang kanilang magagamit para sa pang-araw-araw na pangangailangan gaya ng pagpapatakbo nung opisina, yung ating sinasabing MOOE, ay aabot ng mga 25 to 30%. Kasama po diyan yung mga pinamimigay natin na mga ayuda sa ating mga kababayan, yung pong mga nasa baba,” Dela Vega said.
The third major slice, more than 20%, goes to infrastructure: roads, bridges, and other capital projects.
“Lalo na ang ating pong infra, mga more than 20% of that, yung mga panggawa natin ng mga tulay, ng ating mga kalsada, yung ating pagpapatayo ng mga iba’t ibang sa industriya naman na kailangan. So ganun po yung pagkakahati-hati ng ating budget,” Dela Vega said.
Budget Secretary Kim Robert De Leon explained that the salary portion covers not just active government employees but also pensions for retired civilian workers and military and uniformed personnel.
He added that the 20% infrastructure figure represents only the national government’s direct spending, and that LGUs are separately required by law to use 20% of their National Tax Allotment for their own local development fund, meaning total public infrastructure investment across the country is larger than what the national budget’s 20% slice alone suggests.
“While we classify o ang turing natin sa NTA sa national government ay MOOE, pagbaba niyan sa mga lokal na pamahalaan, mandatorily merong dapat 20% ay gagamitin nila sa development fund. So yung 20% kanina is actually the national government side,” De Leon said.
He said the ₱7.2 trillion also represents only 21.7% of the country’s projected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2027, meaning the national budget is one piece of a much larger economic picture that includes private sector spending and public-private partnerships.
Undersecretary Goddes Hope Libiran said the DBM’s job is to translate these numbers, which cause ordinary Filipinos’ eyes to glaze over in the General Appropriations Act, into language every Filipino can understand and act on.
“Kasi alam niyo, pag tiningnan niyo po yung General Appropriations Act o yung National Expenditure Program, makikita niyo maraming masyadong technical terms. Kung babasahin po ‘yan ng isang ordinaryong Pilipino, dudugo ilong nila,” Libiran said.
