Why the Philippines’ latest budget has been called ‘heartbreaking’ and ‘a moral failure’

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has signed a controversial national budget that critics call “heartbreaking” as it is set to gut social and health protection for the country’s poorest while putting billions in the hands of politicians for their pet projects.

Marcos Jnr had delayed signing the budget by three days to conduct “a review” of what detractors said was 361 billion pesos (US$6.1 billion) sliced off by Congress from social protection and medical services to underprivileged Filipinos.

The slashed funds include a 74 billion pesos state subsidy to the state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to provide free medical insurance to the poor, elderly and disabled.

State funding for this and the “4P’s Programme”, a law designed to help the poorest families rise from poverty, has been reduced to zero, with the latter originally allocated 12.45 billion pesos.

Such allocations were diverted to lawmakers and Marcos Jnr and designed to win over their supporters in next year’s midterm elections, former Senate President Franklin Drilon said last week.

The coming polls are important because they are a gauge of the president’s public support. They will also determine his power over Congress to pass pet legislation and anoint his successor.