FOLLOWING 2025 BUDGET BLUNDER: Romualdez backs call for livestreamed bicam

Following the alleged unlawful insertions of billions of funds in the 2025 national expenditure, House Speaker Martin Romualdez on Friday backed calls for an open bicameral conference committee to ensure that the public has access to the crucial budget process, which is traditionally conducted behind closed doors.

“Intervene, listen, watch. We invite every citizen to witness how their budget is being crafted, live and unfiltered. This is your money. This is your future. And now, this is your Congress,” the House chief urged.

The commitment comes two months ahead of the deliberations on the 2026 national budget, which is pegged at P6.793 trillion, the highest budget ever to be approved by Congress.

This is 7.4 percent higher than this year’s P6.326 trillion and accounts for 22 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

The 2025 General Appropriations Act was widely criticized for allegedly featuring padded unprogrammed and discretionary funds, while subsidies for key sectors like education and healthcare suffered deep cuts.

Watchdogs, anti-corruption advocates, and business groups have long petitioned Congress to make the bicam accessible to the public. They argued that the lack of transparency in these pivotal proceedings opens the floodgates for budget manipulation and illegal insertions.

Prompted by the mounting public clamor, Romualdez pledged to convince fellow legislators in both houses of Congress to institutionalize the open bicam. This would allow the bicam process to be livestreamed and exposed to public scrutiny.

“Transparency and accountability must be the cornerstones of the budget proces. This is a crucial step in restoring public trust and ensuring that the national budget truly reflects the will and welfare of the people,” Romualdez said.

He continued, “We passed key accountability measures. Now we must build on that momentum by opening the most sensitive and final stages of the legislative process to the Filipino people.”

Romualdez himself has been accused of budget manipulation along with some House and Senate members who sat in the bicam for the 2025 budget.

Allies of former president Rodrigo Duterte charged him and other House leaders with 12 counts each of falsification of legislative documents and graft before the Ombudsman for “illegally” inserting P241 billion in “blank items” in the bicam report of the 2025 budget.

The “insertions” came after the report had already been ratified by both the House and the Senate, in violation of Article 170 of the Revised Penal Code.

Bicam is tasked with reconciling the conflicting provisions of the House and the Senate’s versions of the national budget bill. Amending its report after ratification, critics asserted, defeats the purpose of holding a bicam conference.

Bicam members and Malacañang categorically denied allegations of blank line items, questionable insertions, increases, and reallocations after Duterte allies contested the constitutionality of this year’s GAA before the Supreme Court.

The 2025 GAA, originally set at P6.352 trillion, was trimmed to P6.326 trillion after President Marcos Jr. vetoed P194 billion worth of line items deemed inconsistent with his administration's priority programs. Critics blamed the bicam for the inconsistencies.

Earlier, Marcos was reportedly planning to sit with the bicam panel to ensure that the capital outlay for 2026 aligns with the administration's priorities. Critics said this would violate the constitutional principle of separation of powers, since the power of the purse belongs exclusively to Congress.