The country’s economic team is pushing for faster procurement and implementation of government projects and programs to deliver tangible benefits to Filipinos.

During a briefing with the Senate Committee on Finance on the 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP) on Thursday, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Acting Secretary Kim Robert de Leon said the government is committed to accelerating infrastructure projects while strengthening safeguards for fund utilization.

De Leon assured lawmakers that infrastructure spending would be accelerated without compromising the budgeting, procurement, accounting and auditing safeguards designed to protect public funds.

“We are not proposing any relaxation of safeguards. In fact, we want more safeguards,” he said when asked whether controls on the audit and validation of infrastructure projects would be eased to speed up government spending.

“What we are looking at is how we can hasten implementation and procurement. The issue is not the safeguards. We need to implement. We have to start implementing,” De Leon added.

De Leon said this as he cited delays in the procurement, awarding and implementation of already-funded infrastructure projects as among the immediate challenges the government must address.

He said the government’s economic managers are working toward a recovery in infrastructure activity beginning in the third quarter of 2026, noting that the DBM has already made available the allotments the Department of Public Works and Highways needs to move forward with its projects.

He said the objective is not simply to spend more or faster, but to ensure appropriated funds translate into “well-planned, properly implemented, and beneficial infrastructure projects.”

Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DepDev) Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan emphasized the need to fast-track implementation and translate reforms into concrete outcomes.

“Our direction remains anchored in the Philippine Development Plan. Over the administration’s final two years, the focus is an accelerating execution, resolving implementation bottlenecks, and translating reforms into concrete results,” Balisacan said.

Finance Secretary Finance Go vowed responsible fiscal management through stronger revenues, prudent expenditure management and fiscal buffers against future shocks.

He also ensured that government resources must be directed toward investments that generate jobs and create lasting economic value.

“Our national budget can work harder if we invest in programs and projects that can help shape our future. We must look beyond the present and invest in high multiplier programs and projects that create lasting economic value, those that create jobs,” he said. (PNA)