Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson on Saturday urged the public to observe how the Senate has implemented transparency in its version of the proposed 2026 national budget amounting to P6.793 trillion by visiting the official website of the Upper Chamber.
He emphasized that public scrutiny is essential to ensure accountability and foster trust in the legislative process. Lacson said an informed citizenry can better engage with government initiatives and hold officials responsible for their decisions.
Lacson stated that the Budget Transparency Portal demonstrates the reforms implemented by the Senate in the budgetary process, including livestreaming the proceedings from committee hearings to floor discussions.
“Overall, the crafting of the budget in the Senate was very good. I would encourage you, the public, to check the Senate website. You will see the individual amendments of each senator. Everything is on record, unlike before when we could not trace who made what amendment because the amendments were merely whispered to the committee chairman,” he said.
The Senate website contains livestream videos of the deliberations, while the Budget Transparency Portal provides additional details, including documents and transcripts of hearings.
Lacson said the Senate, which is set to approve the budget bill on third reading this coming week, is prepared to maintain this transparency in the bicameral conference committee.
“Hopefully the Senate will stand its ground. The bicam is a give-and-take matter, but this time, we will limit our discussions to what is contained in the Senate and House versions of the budget bill. And we will livestream the proceedings so there will be no chance for secret deals,” he said.
The senator also reiterated that such transparency will encourage a sense of responsibility and accountability among those proposing amendments to the bill, since items that turn out to be substandard or ghost projects could be traced back to them.
“Even on matters of oversight, lawmakers who proposed amendments will guard the implementation because they will be held accountable if something goes wrong with the project,” he added.
Lacson said they also removed allocables—the so-called new pork barrel—from the Senate version of the budget bill despite some “resistance.”
He added that the Senate has eliminated “ayuda” and other elements related to political patronage from the list of items to be financed by unprogrammed appropriations.
Lacson, a vocal critic of the pork barrel system, earlier described allocables as the new pork barrel because they allow funding for projects before they are identified—opening the door to abuses such as rigged bidding for contracts benefiting favored players.
He also disclosed that the Senate majority bloc, while tackling the budget measure, received information that some lawmakers—including senators—were insisting on including their “individual amendments” in the bill.
But he said this was settled after the senators approved the budget bill—without the allocables—on second reading on Dec. 4. The bill is set for third-reading approval this coming week.
“We are already in reform mode, then this still happens—some suggesting that if the House will have allocables, so should the Senate. It’s very bad,” he said in Filipino on One News, recalling his discussion with fellow Senate leaders on the matter.
Lacson noted that had the resistance persisted, he would have called on the majority bloc to support Senator Sherwin Gatchalian by voting on amendments if necessary.
