Trade and Industry Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo on Monday assured investors that the government is considering measures to pay arrearages under the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) program.

The assurance followed President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s veto of P4.32 billion in fiscal support for the program from the PHP6.793-trillion 2026 national budget, which he signed Monday. The item was among those vetoed as part of the government’s tightening of unprogrammed appropriations.

Rodolfo, who heads the Board of Investments (BOI), said in a statement that “we fully respect the decision of the President.”

“We understand the context of his overall decision on Unprogrammed Appropriations. And to our investors, we firmly assure that we are already working with other Agencies, principally the DBM (Department of Budget and Management), in identifying a mechanism to ensure payment of CARS arrearages especially as these had been based on validated delivery of performance commitments and on a robust and transparent inter-agency process of vetting claims against the CARS Program,” she said.

Under the CARS program, the government provides participating automotive firms with fixed investment support and production volume incentives. To date, P1.44 billion has been released out of the P5.43-billion total budget.