Auto industry-related support fundings removed from 2026 nat'l budget

MANILA: Supposed fundings for automotive-industry related government programs have been vetoed to be part of the 2026 national budget.

According to Department of Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, President Ferdinand Marcos vetoed the supposed allocations for the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) as well as the Revitalizing the Automotive Industry for Competitiveness Enhancement (RACE) programs.

The two were among the line items under the unprogrammed appropriations (UA) for the year (which has a total budget of P92.5 billion).

Should they have been included in the approved General Appropriations Act for 2026, the programs will have the following intended shares in the national budget:

CARS	P4.32 billion
RACE	P250 million

To note, the two programs were eyed to entice automotive firms to further invest in the country.

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Following this, Senate Finance Committee Chair Sherwin Gatchalian expressed his concerns about the vetoing of the budgets for the CARS and RACE programs.

In a briefing, the legislator noted that Toyota and Mitsubishi — two automotive marques that have invested heavily in the Philippines by putting up their own manufacturing hubs — should have received tax incentives some four to five years back as promised by the government.

“May utang kasi tayo sa Mitsubishi and Toyota. Pumunta sila dito para mag-invest, ang sabi naten bibigyan namen kayo ng tax incentives. For the last four or five years, hindi naten nabibigay yung tax incentives. Umiiyak na yung Toyota and Mitsubishi. Ngayon, during the budget hearing, yung BOI [Board of Investments> nagmamakaawa na bigyan sila ng pondo para mabayaran yung Mitsubishi and Toyota dahil nakakahiya na sa mga foreign investors. (We owe money to Mitsubishi and Toyota. They came here to invest, we said we would give them tax incentives. For the last four or five years, we have not been able to give them tax incentives. Toyota and Mitsubishi are crying. Now, during the budget hearing, the BOI is begging to give them funds to pay Mitsubishi and Toyota because it is embarrassing for foreign investors), Gatchalian shared.

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