Speaker Dy backs Diokno proposal for live bicameral sessions

Speaker Faustino Dy III on Wednesday expressed full support to open the bicameral conference committee meetings on the proposed ₱6.793-trillion 2026 national budget to the public through live broadcasts to promote accountability and transparency in the budget process.

“That is also what we want ever since we were elected as Speaker. That is our commitment to our countrymen — to make our budget for next year accountable and transparent,” Dy told a radio interview.

The Speaker made the remark in response to proposals to conduct livestreams of all bicameral budget deliberations to dispel longstanding suspicions of closed-door “small committee” meetings that shaped the final version of the national budget away from public scrutiny.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno renewed this call to avert questionable budget insertions. He said the previous bicameral meetings had “gone far beyond” its purpose, and the conduct of a closed bicam “must stop.” 

“That’s the problem with a closed bicam. There are no records and we don’t know where the insertions came from,” Diokno said.

Diokno recalled having filed a resolution calling on Congress to open the bicam, “so that there will be no more issues about having secret or insertions during the bicam proceedings.”

“We’re hoping that both Houses will agree to this and that we can come up with an open bicam to assure the public that there will be no more (questionable developments) that happened in the last budget cycles,” he said.

Dy, meanwhile, said the House has already implemented similar transparency measures through the creation of the Budget Amendment and Revision Subcommittee (BARSc), which replaced the old “small committee” that used to privately review amendments to the General Appropriations Bill after plenary approval.

The BARSc institutionalized the process and made budget deliberations more open to public scrutiny by allowing broader participation from House members, agencies, and even civil society representatives.

“That’s why BARSc was established… For the first time our budget hearing became more open and transparent,” Dy explained.

“Because we are also listening to the requests and complaints of our civil societies on how we can restore the trust of our citizens. That is what we want — to place their trust in our Congress,” the Speaker said.