SMALLER PURSE President Marcos, shown in this photo with first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos taken March 11, 2024, departing from Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, is expected to embark on fewer trips next year given the smaller travel budget allocated to the Office of the President. —PPA POOL
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is expected to embark on fewer foreign and local trips next year, based on the smaller travel allocation for the Office of the President (OP) in 2025, according to the Department of Budget and Management.
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the 2025 National Expenditure Program has earmarked P1.054 billion for the President’s travel expenses next year, a decrease of 8 percent or P94 million, from P1.14 billion this year.
But even with the reduced funding, the President would still need to embark on his trips abroad to push earlier investment commitments he has gathered in previous trips, Pangandaman noted.
“In many of those pledges, memorandums of understanding and agreement were already signed and the President needs to do follow-ups to make sure that these investment pledges would be realized,” she explained.
Pangandaman said the President’s foreign travels, along with his economic team, would likely continue as part of the administration’s efforts to sell the Philippines to prospective investors.
“As we have explained before, we, together with the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) and the whole economic team, still continue to go out and we market the Philippines as an investment destination. That effort continues,” she said.
28 since he took over
Since he became President in 2022, Mr. Marcos has gone on a total of 28 foreign trips, with allocation for his travel fund growing in the past two years.
In his first year in office, he traveled to five countries: Indonesia, Singapore, the United States, Thailand and Belgium.
His travel spending in 2022, however, was flagged by the Commission on Audit after exceeding the P314-million allocation for travel expenses by P84 million.
In 2023, the Chief Executive received a travel budget of P893.57 million, which allowed him to embark on trips to China, Japan, twice to the United States, and one each to Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Singapore, where he watched a Formula 1 race.
For 2024, the OP was given P1.4 billion for travel expenses, but Pangandaman corrected this, saying the actual figure was only P1.14 billion.
This year, the President has so far gone on eight trips abroad: twice to Brunei and Australia, one each to Germany, the Czech Republic and Vietnam, and return visits to Singapore and the United States.
Aside from traveling abroad, the President also embarks on frequent trips to the provinces to lead the distribution of various government aid to underprivileged Filipinos, particularly farmers, and fisherfolk badly hit by the recent El Niño phenomenon and those affected by past typhoons.
READ: LIST: Pres. Bongbong Marcos’ overseas trips from 2022-2024
During a speech in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, last May, Mr. Marcos noted that traveling to different provinces helps him connect with Filipinos and understand their urgent concerns.
‘Where’s the leisure?’
Since assuming office, Mr. Marcos’ foreign trips have also attracted many critics.
Last March in Berlin, Germany, President Marcos shrugged off his predecessor’s tirade against his frequent travels.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte, speaking at the “Laban Kasama ang Bayan” prayer rally for Apollo Quiboloy in Manila, said that Mr. Marcos had been traveling a lot for leisure.
Mr. Marcos then showed the media people accompanying him a copy of his schedule in Germany, asking: “Where’s the leisurely travel? None. You know, we don’t come here for strolling, even in the places I spent a lot of time in.”
Foreign Assistant Secretary Maria Elena Algabre also defended Mr. Marcos’ foreign trips, saying that these were part of the administration’s development goals.
“The President’s international engagement is, of course, in support of his development agenda, security [and] economic, that will redound to the benefits of our countrymen. And for Germany and the Czech Republic, the visit will focus, as we have said earlier, [on] strengthening partnership with like-minded countries in Europe, especially the promotion of a rules-based international order,” she said.
In defense of trips
Administration officials also defended the trips from criticism that they were just a waste of money.
Just last month, the DTI said that at least 65 projects worth $19 billion have been initiated as a result of deals secured during the President’s overseas trips.
In a briefing, resigned Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said the tally of projects was as of June, and that these were in various stages of the investment process.
Of those that have been set in motion, 12 projects worth $328 million were operating and registered with an investment promotion agency (IPA).
There were 32 other projects valued at $17 billion in the process of registering, and the rest worth $1.6 billion were registered with IPAs but not yet operating.
The 65 projects accounted for a third of the $61.3 billion worth of investment leads gathered during the President’s trips, involving 201 projects and excluding 30 public-private partnerships.