The Senate has approved the proposed House Bill 4058 or the P6.7-trillion 2026 General Appropriations Bill on second reading, with a P68.667-billion reduction in new appropriations.
Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and Senator Joel Villanueva voted against the measure.
According to the general summary, the net reduction is the result of P362.86 billion in increases and P431.53 billion in cuts across the board.
The total new appropriations under the Senate version stand at P4.577 trillion, down from P4.646 trillion in the House version.
The Senate version has increases for the Congress of the Philippines; Office of the President; Office of the Vice President; Department of Agrarian Reform; Department of Economy, Planning and Development; Department of Education; State Universities and Colleges; Department of Finance; Department of Foreign Affairs; Department of Information and Communications Technology; Department of the Interior and Local Government; Department of Justice; Department of Migrant Workers; Department of National Defense; Department of Science and Technology; Department of Tourism; Department of Trade and Industry; the Judiciary; Commission on Audit; and Commission on Elections.
The Senate version made reductions in the Special Purpose Funds, Department of Transportation, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, Department of Health, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Department of Agriculture.
Unprogrammed appropriations were also cut by P68.667 billion, from P243.222 billion in the House version to P174.555 billion in the Senate version.
Senators were given access to a summary of the amendments ahead of the vote on second reading Thursday, with all reference documents to be distributed before the final vote next week.
There are funds in the proposed 2026 national budget for the increase in the base pay of military and uniformed personnel, as previously announced by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
This was assured by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sherwin Gatchalian during the plenary session ahead of the expected approval of the 2026 budget bill on second reading.
The Senate version also restored the budget of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in its final version of the 2026 national budget.
Gatchalian highlighted five key amendments to the 2026 national budget.
He said the fifth and final amendment is restoring the 4Ps program to the National Expenditure Program level at P11.17 billion.
He explained that the first amendment is the restoration of the five percent reduction of the Construction Materials Price Data (CMPD) of the DPWH, as introduced under the committee report.
Gatchalian added that the second major amendment is the reduction of foreign-assisted projects in the amount of P53 billion.
