While the 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP) has allotted P1.224 trillion for education, Senator Win Gatchalian vowed that he will look for an additional P55 billion to ensure that education spending will hit at least 4% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

“Pagsisikapan nating tugunan ang kakulangan sa pondo ng edukasyon upang mas marami pa tayong matulungan — mga mag-aaral man o guro,” assured Gatchalian, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) recently announced that the education budget under the NEP has reached 4% of GDP, but research from the Senator’s office shows it is only ₱1.178 trillion, or 3.8% of projected GDP for 2026.

Under UNESCO guidelines, individual pension contributions of employees in the education sector—amounting to about ₱46.045 billion—are not supposed to be included in computing education expenditure as they do not constitute government spending. But it appears that the DBM factored these in, which is why the figure came out at 4%.”

The 4% GDP benchmark on education spending was recommended by UNESCO under the Education 2030 Incheon Declaration.