BUDGET authorities expect first-half infrastructure spending to be “soft” compared to a year earlier due to factors such as frontloading ahead the May 2025 midterm elections and projects that have yet to be completed.
“Infrastructure disbursements would likely remain soft at least for the first half of the year,” the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said as “base effects of large settlement of accounts payables in Q1 last year persist while the completion of projects carried over from the previous year is ongoing.”
“Nonetheless, the quality of infrastructure spending may benefit from the continuous implementation of [a] strict review and validation process for payment claims, the tighter monitoring of project implementation or completion status and the acceleration of projects affected by unintended delays last year,” it added.
Infrastructure and capital outlays for the first two months of the year dropped by 40.1 percent to P88.7 billion from P148.3 billion in January-February 2025.
The DBM said the decline was due to ongoing completion of projects funded by last year’s budget with implementation of this year’s budget still ramping up, affecting the processing of progress billing claims.
“It can also be noted that infrastructure disbursements during the first quarter of 2025 were relatively higher due to the frontloading of some expenditures and settlements of accounts payable ahead of the election ban during the time,” it said.
The government failed to meet its infrastructure spending target last year as it tightened financial controls following a massive public works corruption scandal.
Infrastructure and capital outlays dropped by 17.3 percent to P1.09 trillion in 2025 from P1.33 trillion a year earlier. The programmed spending for 2025 of P1.35 trillion was also missed.
This year, public capital expenditures have been set at P1.58 trillion.
The remaining program balance as of Feb. 28, 2026 stood at P2.48 trillion, or 36.5 percent of the P6.79 trillion total obligation program for the year. Most of the balance is to be used for interest payments (P950 billion), agency-specific budgets (P915.2 billion) and special purpose funds (P577.5 billion).
Most of the unreleased allotments under agency-specific budgets, meanwhile, are for infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways, which was at the center of last year’s corruption scandal. NIÑA MYKA PAULINE ARCEO
