President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. with Speaker Martin Romualdez during the Asean Leaders Interface With Representative Of Asean Interpaliamentary Assembly (ASEAN-AIPA) at Lao National Cultural Center in Lao PDR on Oct. 09, 2024.  Revoli S. Cortez, PPA pool

MANILA -- The Office of the President requested Congress for an additional P5.2 billion budget to allow the government to prepare early for the Philippines’ chairmanship of the ASEAN in 2026, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin revealed Monday.

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Bersamin said the request for supplemental funds was made after the Executive Department submitted its proposed National Expenditure Program to Congress.

The Philippines earlier accepted the regional bloc's request to be the ASEAN chair in 2026, or a year earlier than scheduled, because of problems with Myanmar.

"Iyong ASEAN 2026 would have been done in Myanmar pero biglang umayaw iyong Myanmar kasi walang may gustong pumunta roon na heads of state because you know the problem about Myanmar. So, komo alphabetical iyong sequence ng pagho-hold ng ASEAN, letter P, Philippines ay next – inako ni Presidente iyan," Bersamin explained.

(ASEAN 2026 would have been done in Myanmar but because of the problems there, heads of state don't want to go there. So, because ASEAN hosting is held in alphabetical order, letter P is next--Philippines. So the president took on that.)

"Kasi hindi maaaring payagan natin na walang ASEAN (We can't let it happen that there will be no ASEAN meeting) – that’s a very important part of our international relations,” Bersamin, who is also the Chairperson of the country’s ASEAN National Organizing Council, said in a televised briefing. 

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Since Myanmar's military staged a coup and ousted the democratically elected government in February 2021, the country has been in a state of political turmoil.

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Bersamin noted that preparations for the “very gargantuan task” of chairing the ASEAN may require P22 billion.

“So ASEAN 2026 to be hosted by the Philippines, we needed to start the work now," he said.

"After 2025, we will ask for more, bigger, but that will be in the NEP that will be submitted in 2025 for 2026," he said.