Senator Panfilo Lacson isn’t letting his guard down when it comes to the 2026 national budget.

He’ll be keeping a close watch for any hidden “pork barrel” funds or suspicious realignments in the proposed P6.793-trillion spending plan — a 7.4-percent jump from this year’s P6.326 trillion — with help from fellow senators who are all committed to ensuring full transparency in the budget deliberations.

Still, Lacson admitted that keeping the budget clean and free of questionable insertions is easier said than done.

“Breaking the cycle and culture of budget insertions and realignments is a big challenge. I hope we, and other like-minded senators, will work together to ensure transparency in the budget process,” Lacson said in a television interview on Monday night.

He said working with Senate Finance Committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian to ensure transparency in the budget process is a “breath of fresh air.”

Lacson, who earned a reputation as an eagle-eyed budget watchdog, said he hopes to work with like-minded senators to keep the budget free of “pork.”

“His (Gatchalian’s) proposal to upload online the documents related to the budget is a good one. It will mean a lot to see which lawmaker made which insertion that the President described as not aligning with the National Expenditure Program (NEP),” Lacson said.

He has no reason to doubt that Gatchalian, whom he described as someone who means what he says, will follow through with his initiatives, Lacson said.

Gatchalian on Monday said he will require the publication of the entire budget process on the government’s website, starting with the budget requests of the various agencies in the General Appropriations Bill and the General Appropriations Act.

Gatchalian said this promises “a golden age of transparency and accountability.”

Lacson, who has refiled a bill ensuring public participation in the budget process—including in the bicameral conference committee—said he is ready to work with Gatchalian and other like-minded lawmakers to finally break the cycle of pork-like insertions and realignments in the budget.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in his podcast Monday night, cautioned the House of Representatives about making budget insertions in the NEP, saying that it would ruin the country’s reputation with international financial institutions, as well as jeopardize critical foreign-assisted projects.

In his State of the Nation Address last week, the Chief Executive said he would return the 2026 General Appropriations Bill if lawmakers make excessive insertions or move funds for projects not aligned with the NEP.