The Marcos Jr administration keeps borrowing to finance all its pork barrel projects. With two more months left in the year, the national government’s debt has already ballooned to exceed its year-end target. Even worse, because a big chunk of the budget goes to pork barrel and corruption, so much borrowed money did not even go to much needed social services and social protection for millions of poor and vulnerable Filipino families, to helping millions of distressed farmers and fisherfolk, or to supporting hundreds of thousands of struggling small businesses.

National government outstanding debt increased to Php17.6 trillion in October 2025, already exceeding the government forecast of Php17.36 trillion by year-end. It remains to be seen if plans to pay down and reduce debt before the end of the year will materialize. Debt has ballooned from Php12.79 trillion in June 2022 at the start of the Marcos Jr administration to the current Php17.6 trillion, or by Php4.8 trillion (37.3%).

The gross borrowings of the Marcos government are at a record Php208.3 billion per month, which is at a faster rate than the previous Duterte (Php130.6 billion) and Aquino (Php61.5 billion) administrations combined.

The huge increase in debt corresponds to huge increases in controversial indicators of pork barrel in the national budgets under Pres. Marcos Jr. For instance, unprogrammed appropriations – projects and programs without earmarked funds suspected to bloat because of pork barrel projects – spiked from Php251 billion in 2022 to Php807 billion in 2023, Php731.5 billion in 2024 and Php531.7 billion in 2025.

The biggest budget increases in flood control projects also happened under the Marcos Jr government with a Php68.3 billion increase in 2023 and a Php69.6 billion increase in 2024. The flood control project budgets of Php283.2 billion in 2023, Php352.8 billion in 2024 and Php350.5 billion in 2025 are the largest flood control project allocations in the budget’s history.

Worse, still unfolding corruption exposés confirm that hundreds of billions of pesos in government funds, including from borrowing, has not gone towards improving the people’s welfare or ensuring genuine development. These funds are instead going to the pockets of the powerful and wealthy few via pork barrel insertions throughout the budget process. The Makabayan bloc, for instance, estimates that as much as Php695.8 billion of the proposed 2026 budget is presidential and legislative pork – funds that should be going to much-needed ayuda, schools and health facilities, and agriculture, among others.

Left unchecked, corruption will keep the debt growing needlessly just to accrue even more wealth for the president and his cronies, when every peso of government finances should be going to uplifting Filipinos’ welfare and strengthening development.