Members of the bicameral conference committee moved to finish deliberations of the proposed 2026 national budget today at the earliest to avoid a reenacted budget, with the Senate now inclined to restore a part of the P45 billion slashed from the allocation of the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Senate Finance committee chairperson Sherwin Gatchalian and House Appropriations committee chairperson Mikaela Suansing earlier expressed hope that deliberations would be finished yesterday, but discussions on the budget of several agencies have yet to be concluded as of press time.
House Deputy Majority Leader Zia Alonto Adiong, however, said the bicam report will likely be ready for ratification next week, avoiding what he described as the “worst-case scenario” of a reenacted budget.
“I think the (bicam) is really eager to finish this up before next week, because next weekwould be the ratification. We are expecting that the bicameral report will be out next week for the ratification of both houses,” Adiong said.
A breakthrough was reached on the DPWH budget, which earlier caused a deadlock and the postponement of the bicameral hearing on Monday, with the Senate now open to restoring a part of the department’s funding.
“It will be less (than the P45 billion cut) because they factored in logistics, hauling, indirect costs, and other expenses to make it realistic,” Gatchalian said.
“We are finalizing it now. So far, so good,” he added.
Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon earlier cautioned that applying construction materials price data or CMPD-based cuts across about 10,000 projects in the General Appropriations Bill could make some contracts unimplementable.
The bicam also approved yesterday a P63.9-billion budget for the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis (AICS) program for 2026.
The amount was a P37-billion increase from the original proposal of P26.9 billion under the National Expenditure Program.
Suansing said the increase was based on a Sept. 12, 2025 letter from DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian requesting an increase in AICS funding.
“Given the fiscal space, we could only accommodate P32 billion of the P43 billion being requested,” she said.
Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said the deadlocks on the proposed 2026 national budget reflect birth pains of an unusually transparent process that lawmakers must sustain rather than abandon.
“This is our chance to reform our budgeting system. If we still fail to move forward after this extremely painful experience with the flood control project scandal, then we truly have no hope,” he said.
During the bicameral discussions, lawmakers approved increases such as a P51 billion allocation for the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients program and P33 billion for farm-to-market roads.
Lacson warned the expanded medical assistance fund could become a tool for political patronage without strict safeguards and that at least P8 billion worth of farm-to-market road projects lacked proper identification, including missing grid coordinates and project descriptions that were not part of the Senate version approved on third reading.
“This is our chance to reform our budgeting system,” Lacson said.
Gatchalian added: “What we are dealing with are numbers, so we are making sure that the budget is balanced and that the figures being written are correct. The numbers here are huge, and since the budget is important, our staff repeatedly review these.”
Malacañang said it supports careful scrutiny of the budget for as long as it is passed on time.
Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro said lawmakers still have time to thoroughly review and correct the spending measure without resorting to a reenacted budget.
Asked whether Malacañang considers a reenacted budget a lesser evil compared with passing a flawed national spending measure, Castro said: “I don’t want to mention any lesser evil. I will mention a good option. The good option: study well. December is not yet over.”
“A properly prepared budget that can be passed on time (is the good option),” she added.
