By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter
PHILIPPINE LAWMAKERS on Thursday reconciled disagreeing provisions of the proposed P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026, ending Congress’ review of the spending plan marked by one of the contentious proceedings in recent times amid a corruption scandal over flood control projects.
They aim to ratify the budget bill within the last week of December, giving President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. a brief window to review the spending plan despite Congress’ intention to permit the Executive more time.
Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, who heads the Senate Finance Committee, said the bicameral report would likely be signed on Dec. 28 and ratified by each the Senate and House of Representatives on Dec. 29, with Mr. Marcos expected to sign it that very same day without vetoes.
The President has until Dec. 31 to sign the spending bill, or next yr’s appropriations will routinely revert to the 2025 budget.
Congress will amend its legislative calendar to satisfy the ratification date, Nueva Ecija Rep. and House Appropriations Committee chair Mikaela Angela B. Suansing said, as lawmakers are set to adjourn by next week.
“I’m confident that nothing will likely be vetoed,” Mr. Gatchalian told reporters after the bicameral conference committee discussions on House Bill No. 4085.
Senators and congressmen within the bicameral conference committee resolved differences after six days of debates, broadcast live for the primary time, with disagreements over funding for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) threatening to stall proceedings.
“This budget will truly address the needs of our people, and above all, this budget is corruption-free,” Mr. Gatchalian told the joint congressional panel. “Most significantly, this budget, I can say, will likely be the usual for transparency.”
The reconciliation of differing allocations between the House and Senate marks the tip of their review of the Executive’s budget, submitted in August and reshaped with reforms to revive public trust after a widening multibillion‑peso kickback scheme involving anomalous infrastructure deals.
Final allocations for some line items weren’t immediately available, though Mr. Gatchalian said updates could be posted online for public scrutiny.
The panel agreed to trim P20.7 billion from the DPWH budget, based on adjusted material costs, moderately than the P45-billion cut originally sought by senators.
“I’m confident to say that there are not any overpriced materials on this budget,” Mr. Gatchalian said. Disputes over DPWH funding had stalled talks earlier within the week, with congressmen warning that drastic cuts could hinder economic activity.
Public Works Secretary Vivencio B. Dizon on Sunday urged lawmakers to revive cuts, warning that slower government spending could weigh on growth, which eased to 4% within the third quarter amid the corruption scandal.
“As much as possible, we wish to avoid the economic impact of unimplementable projects,” Ms. Suansing told the identical panel. “It could have a giant effect on our economy.”
“It can hit our infrastructure spending and that will have a detrimental effect on our growth,” she added.
John Paolo R. Rivera, senior research fellow on the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, said lawmakers likely sought to balance support for economic growth with fiscal discipline in an agency embroiled in a widening flood control scandal.
“Maintaining the total cut would have sent a stronger signal on accountability, but a calibrated restoration recognizes the necessity to support activity,” he said in a Viber message. “Ultimately, the correct move is dependent upon whether lawmakers can prove value for money. Without that, higher spending risks doing more harm than good.
The bicameral panel kept the P255 billion cut for flood control works, though Mr. Gatchalian said ongoing projects have already got funding under previous budgets.
“That doesn’t mean there are not any more flood control projects,” he said. “There are still around P300 billion price of projects not yet accomplished.”
Lawmakers increased the Education department’s budget by 9.9% to P961.3 billion, largely to support the development of 34,000 recent classrooms in 2026, and raised the varsity feeding program allocation to P25.6 billion to increase coverage from 120 to 180 days.
“The reallocations are very welcome as these will help address problems with the training crisis,” Philippine Business for Education Executive Director Hanibal Camua said in a Viber message.
The Agriculture department and its agencies saw a 20.7% increase to P185.77 billion for farm-to-market roads, post-harvest facilities and other modernization initiatives.
Allocations for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) rose by 14.8% to P129.78 billion, partly sourced from DPWH savings. This includes P60 billion to be restored to the state health insurer after authorities diverted it last yr to other projects, following a Supreme Court order in early December for its return through the budget.
“This will not be sufficient to cover for the premiums of the 24.5 million indirect contributors,” budget watchdog People’s Budget Coalition said in a report, adding that lawmakers didn’t require gambling agencies to contribute under the Universal Healthcare Act.
Funding for the Health department’s program to supply financial aid to poor patients was raised to P51 billion, up from P24.2 billion under the Executive’s proposal.
Two railway projects also had lower allocations after the joint congressional panel. Funding for the North-South Commuter Railway was cut by 50% to P28.8 billion from P57.6 billion, while the Metro Manila Subway Project’s budget was slashed by 48% to P20.4 billion from P39.2 billion, with some savings redirected to the Light Rail Transit (LRT-1) Cavite extension and Metro Manila rail improvements.
The bicameral conference committee also agreed to hike funding for the federal government’s money assistance program for indigent Filipinos, long criticized as susceptible to politicking, by 8% to P63.9 billion from P59 billion within the budget bill.
Military base construction received a further P2.38 billion, while modernization programs were kept at P40 billion, with one other P50 billion in unprogrammed appropriations will likely be available if revenues permit.
Unprogrammed funds, intended to be used if excess revenues or recent collections arise, now total P243.4 billion, including increased incentives for vehicle manufacturing to P4.3 billion from P333 million. Mr. Gatchalian said these funds wouldn’t be used for flood control or unrelated projects.
The budget will return to every chamber for separate ratification before being sent to Malacañang for review by Mr. Marcos.
“We just want to provide the peace of mind that the Executive has enough time to review,” Ms. Suansing told reporters after the bicameral panel discussions.
Mr. Gatchalian said Congress is working with the Budget department to make sure a timely review of the ultimate 2026 spending bill, whilst they’re yet to finalize the documents that will likely be submitted to the Executive.
“What we’re doing now’s synchronized review,” he told reporters. “They’ve real-time numbers.”
Mr. Marcos last yr vetoed P194 billion price of line items within the 2025 P6.326-trillion national budget, saying those he removed were inconsistent together with his administration’s priorities. This yr’s spending plan faced controversy during 2024 deliberations over alleged blank line items filled in by the Executive and bloated standby funds.
‘PERFORMATIVE TRANSPARENCY’
Analysts said that while the budget process was livestreamed, it was largely tokenistic as lawmakers held backroom talks during long downtimes and didn’t provide open access to documents.
“The livestreaming of the bicameral conference was by and huge performative transparency,” Joy G. Aceron, convenor-director of transparency group G-Watch, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
“It is de facto not enough for under a component of the budget process to be transparent, there ought to be transparency, participation and accountability in any respect levels from preparations to implementation to accountability,” she added.
Meanwhile, AJ A. Montesa, an advisor at budget watchdog People’s Budget Coalition, said the 2026 spending plan continues to be saddled with “pork barrel” insertions, like those provided to the Social Welfare and Health department’s indigent aid program.
“For whatever good fixing the DPWH budget did, evidently Congress has now resorted to parking the pork in soft programs framed as aid,” he said in a Viber message.
For his part, Mr. Gatchalian said that “no budget is ideal,” adding that folks will all the time find shortcomings.
“You’ll all the time find areas which can be lacking, but you can even find features which can be good,” he told reporters in Filipino.