Senator Sherwin Gatchalian expressed confidence that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will approve the 2026 General Appropriations Bill following its bicameral committee approval. He highlighted a 'meeting of minds' between the Senate and House on the P6.793-trillion budget. Meanwhile, lawmakers are urging full disclosure of allocations per congressional district before the December 29 vote.
In a dzBB interview, Senate finance committee chair Sherwin Gatchalian expressed confidence that the 2026 General Appropriations Bill will pass President Marcos' scrutiny, citing a 'meeting of minds' between the Senate and House in reconciling their versions of the P6.793-trillion national budget. The bicameral conference committee has approved the bill, with ratification scheduled for a plenary session on December 29 before transmission to Malacañang. His technical staff is coordinating with the executive to align the budget with national priorities, ensuring a 'triple review' process.
'I am confident the budget would be passed, because we had a parallel review with the executive branch to review the budget even before it is transmitted to them,' Gatchalian said. To prevent abuse, the Senate removed lumpsum funds under the Strengthening Assistance for Government Infrastructure and Social Program (SAGIP) item, which had been misused for substandard or nonexistent flood control projects. 'We had ensured that past infrastructure anomalies would no longer happen again in this budget, so that taxpayers’ money would no longer be wasted,' he added.
Amid these developments, Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco urged the House to disclose detailed budget allocations per congressional district and party-list before the December 29 vote. 'If nothing is being hidden, release the list,' Tiangco said in a statement. He has been calling for this since October 13 to check for bloated budgets and prevent unauthorized insertions, as seen in the 2025 General Appropriations Act.
Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Leviste echoed calls for transparency on 'allocables' and 'incentives' given to congressmen, extending beyond the P401.3-billion DPWH allocation to agencies like the Department of Health, Social Welfare and Development, Labor and Employment, Agriculture, National Irrigation Authority, and Education. He recounted a meeting where a staffer from House appropriations chair Rep. Mikaela Suansing showed him a list of incentives for his vote. 'If public funds are being used as so-called ‘incentives’ for congressmen before voting on the 2026 budget, the public should at least know... before Congress ratifies the 2026 budget next week,' Leviste said.
The executive plans to sign the budget tentatively on January 5 or within the first week, allowing time to review the over 4,000-page document submitted just before New Year's.
