Each Filipino owes P142,000 due to the country's total P17 trillion debt, according to Senator Sherwin Gatchalian during the hearing of the national budget for 2026. He said this amount is equivalent to almost 80% of the expenses per family. He added that the debt has grown faster than the economy since 2023 due to global issues such as the war in Ukraine.
Gatchalian explained that more money is now going to interest payments than basic needs. He also warned that if the debt is not controlled, President Marcos Jr.'s term will end with the highest recorded debt compared to any other administration.
But according to Secretary Ralph Recto of the Department of Finance, this can be viewed from a different angle. He said, 70% of the debt is self-debt of Filipinos because it is placed in GSIS, SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG. So on the one hand, it can also be considered savings or assets of the people.
Recto added that the debt-to-GDP ratio is not increasing. In 2022, it was at 62.1% and this year it is at 61.8%, meaning it is almost the same. He also explained that President Marcos Jr. had less debt compared to the previous administration.
Gatchalian emphasized that the previous government's situation was different because it had to borrow heavily to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. But Recto insisted that if the economic situation was bad, the country would not have received a credit rating upgrade from international agencies.
