The Bicameral Conference Committee hearings on the 2026 national budget shall begin on Dec. 13, Saturday, the chair of the House Committee on Appropriations said Friday.
Nueva Ecija 1st district Rep. Mikaela Angela Suansing, the panel’s chairperson, said that tomorrow’s scheduled start of the Bicam hearings on the P6.793-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) was postponed “to allow time for the technical staff to prepare.”
“Both Houses have mutually decided to start the bicam on Saturday (Dec. 13) to allow time for the technical staff to prepare,” Suansing said.
“Intensive preparations are required given that this is the first time that the bicam will be livestreamed and we would need a matrix of disagreeing provisions for the deliberations,” she noted.
Suansing is part of the 12-man House contingent to this year’s budget bicam hearings.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the bicam will run without weekend breaks and will be livestreamed online for transparency.
Sotto noted that ratifying the enrolled bill rather than the bicam report summary requires careful printing and verification.
The Senate members of the bicam include Finance Committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian, Mark Villar, Pia Cayetano, JV Ejercito, Loren Legarda, Francis Pangilinan, Erwin Tulfo, Camille Villar, Bong Go, Imee Marcos, and Ronald dela Rosa.
Senator Jinggoy Estrada was invited but withdrew for undisclosed reasons, leaving the Senate delegation one member short.
The House approved its version of the 2026 budget in October, cutting P35 million in unprogrammed appropriations intended for infrastructure projects.
The Senate passed its version on December 9, reducing unprogrammed funds from P243.22 billion to P174.55 billion.
