Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has delayed signing the 6.35 trillion pesos (US$108 billion) national budget following public anger over the diversion of funds intended for the country’s poorest citizens to the “pork barrel” of the president and lawmakers.
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The presidential palace belatedly announced the decision on Friday to allow more time for a thorough review of a measure “that will determine the course of the nation for the next year”.
“The public outrage has influenced him to backtrack,” health reform advocate Dr Anthony Leachon told This Week in Asia.
Leachon, a former president of the Philippine College of Physicians, said “if the president allows the budget to pass into law, he becomes complicit” in what Congress did.
The uproar began after both chambers of Congress approved the 2025 budget, which includes major cuts of about 361 billion pesos (US$6.1 billion) to government agencies that offer social protection and medical services to the poorest sectors of the economy.
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The state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), which provides medical insurance to paying members as well as to the non-paying poor, elderly and disabled, had 74 billion pesos proposed national government subsidy for 2025 slashed – effectively cutting the legally required yearly contribution of the Marcos administration to zero.