President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. led the ceremonial signing of the P5.768-trillion 2024 national budget on Wednesday, calling on agencies to carry out the expenditure program lawfully and to honor the taxpayers who made the next year’s budget possible.

Speaking during the signing ceremony in Malacanang, Marcos reminded agencies implementing the expenditure program to fight red tape “that leads to underspending and overspending that disregards legal guardrails,” emphasizing further that these are ‘two sides of the same coin.’

“Implementation delay and illegal deviations inflict the same havoc of denying the people of the progress and development that they deserve,” he said.

“So, with this reminder comes the most important budget commandment that we must all receive. We are working for the people not for ourselves. We are working for the country not for ourselves," he stated.

The P5.768 trillion-General Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2024 is 9.5 percent higher than the previous fiscal year, and was crafted to sustain the country’s high-growth trajectory.

The administration is expecting a straightforward implementation of the 2024 national budget with the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework, the 8-point Socioeconomic Agenda, and the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 serving as its guide and blueprint.

In an interview with reporters in Malacanang, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the President did not make any direct veto in the provisions of RA 11975.

She disclosed that Marcos merely gave conditional and general observations in his veto message for the 2024 GAA.

"Usually there are general provisions indicated there subject to implementing rules and regulation or guidelines to be issued by their respective departments so those were cleared in the veto message," Pangandaman said.

She said the message also included the President's reiteration of existing laws in the veto he made.

Confidential funds were earlier distributed to security agencies.

The social services sector was allocated the largest share of the budget followed by the economic services sector, which provides high investments in public infrastructure through the Build Better More Program, the Department of Finance said.

The general public services received substantial allocation to cover the expenditures for public order and safety, civil service, and general administration followed by debt burden to cover interest payments on local and foreign borrowings, as well as net lending to government corporations; and defense to ensure the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, it added. DMS