The Senate may pass a budget bill for 2026 that is lower than the P6.7-trillion National Expenditure Program submitted by the Executive branch, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said on Sunday.
Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, raised this possibility in an interview on DZMM Teleradyo.
“Personally, I see many agencies that we can cut the funding for,” Gatchalian said, adding that some agencies were asking funds for projects that they could not justify.
On the other hand, certain government-owned or controlled corporations were seeking funds “even if they have their own money,” Gatchalian said.
“The process will be, we will move these allocations to agencies that need them. If we have filled those and there are allocations left, we might just cut that so we can save,” the senator said.
Gatchalian also said some funds could be realigned to the education and social welfare sectors to help build classrooms, buy textbooks and classroom equipment and to pay for feeding programs.
He said lowering the budget would also bring down the budget deficit, or the difference between expenditures and revenue.
At present, he said they are looking at saving around P400 billion from various agencies – P340 billion from the Department of Public Works and Highways, P10 billion from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and around P2 billion from Government-Owned or Controlled Corporations.
The budget for the government’s flagship programs would not be affected, he said. He said the Senate will also retain allocations for the government counterpart funding for foreign- assisted projects.
“I am not in favor of that since we will lose face with our foreign funders,” Gatchalian said.
Gatchalian said in the same interview that lawmakers have already agreed that the bicameral conference committee deliberations would be livestreamed, although they still have to arrive at a consensus on the ground rules.
