MANILA - The 2025 budget will have over a quarter of a trillion pesos allotted for flood control, according to the proposal submitted by the Department of Budget and Management.

"The water resources development and flood control sub-sector is provided P257.06 billion largely attributed to the DPWH's Flood Management Program (P254.29 billion) that will construct and maintain flood mitigation structures and drainage systems," according to the National Expenditure Program.

It also states that for next year,  a budget of P861.24 billion is proposed for the communications, roads, and other transport sub-sectors, mainly for infrastructure projects. 

Meanwhile, the debt burden or payments to creditors (i.e., interest payments and net lending) are allocated P876.73 billion or 13.8 percent of the 2025 proposed spending program.

For interest payments alone, P848.03 billion will be allocated for creditors, reflecting a P177.56 billion increase from the 2024 level. 

The Philippines' sovereign debt hit P15.35 trillion as of end-May, according to the Bureau of Treasury.

Around P330.4 billion was added to the country's total debt in May from April as the Philippine peso weakened against the US dollar, Treasury said. 

Of the total debt stock, 31.96 percent is external debt, while 68.04 percent is domestic debt.

The money for debt payments in the 2025 budget is also higher than the amount set aside for national defense, which is P419.3 billion. But this defense budget is still higher by 50.75 percent over last year's defense budget as the country aims to strengthen our defense capabilities.