The budget of the Office of the President for 2025 increased due to supplemental funds it requested to prepare for the Philippines hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in 2026.

In a Palace briefing on Monday, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin confirmed that a supplemental fund of P5.2 billion was added to the budget of the Office of the President for 2025.

"ASEAN 2026 to be hosted by the Philippines, we need to start the work now. So after the submission of the National Expenditure Program (NEP), we asked the Congress for supplemental funds in addition to what we proposed for the Office of the President on the NEP to the tune of 5.2 billion pesos for 2025," he said.

"After 2025, we will ask for more, bigger, but that will be in the NEP that will be submitted in 2025 for 2026," he added.

Bersamin explained that the ASEAN 2026 was supposed to be held in Myanmar in 2026 but Marcos volunteered to host the event in the Philippines as the heads of states refused to attend the event due to the ongoing conflict in the area.

"ASEAN 2026 would have been done in Myanmar but Myanmar suddenly refused because there are no heads of state that want to go there because you know the problem about Myanmar. So, because the sequence for the hosting of ASEAN is alphabetical, letter P, Philippines is next, so our President agreed to host ASEAN," he said.

"We could not allow it not to happen? that’s a very important part of our international relations," he added. Robina Asido/DMS