Tensions flare as House opens deliberations on 2026 budget

The House of Representatives kicked off deliberations on the proposed P6.793 trillion national budget for next year on Monday, marked by a heated exchange between legislators concerning a report by the so-called small committee, allegedly responsible for the “budget insertions” in the highly contested 2025 budget.

Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco began his interpolation not with questions but with a demand from appropriations committee chair Mikaela Suansing to furnish House members a signed report of the small committee for the 2025 General Appropriations Bill, which formed this year’s budget.

Tiangco earlier claimed that last year’s small committee made “individual amendments” to the 2025 GAB, led by then appropriations chair Elizaldy Co and three others.

Responding to Tiangco, Suansing said she would put his request “under consideration” and “will let you know if it’s possible,” leading to the Navotas solon erupting, asserting that it should not be treated as a mere request because it was of “public record.”

Tiangco argued that producing the document should not be subject to approval, citing House rules.

“Madam chair, allow me to read this. Section 3 [of our House rules provides] efficient and effective access to the dissemination of appropriate and accurate information are imperative in lawmaking. So why should it be taken into consideration?” Tiangco told Suansing.

The panel chair countered that the document was under the purview of the previous Congress, thus she had no jurisdiction over it, considering the current chamber had already transitioned to a new Congress.

Tiangco rejected Suansing’s explanation, dismissing it as “unacceptable.” He pointed out that it should still be readily available since the current committee secretariat is composed of the same personnel responsible for administrative work in the 19th Congress.

Furthermore, he contended that the report should have been placed in the archives.

“There are so many violations, madam Chair. There’s no record; it wasn’t provided. Now, it’s not readily available,” Tiangco lamented.

Suansing explained that the report in question was already incorporated in the report of the appropriations panel — the small committee’s “mother committee.”

“So the small committee is subsumed within the committee on appropriations and it is the Committee on Appropriations that is required to submit the committee report. So there’s no other committee report that needs to be furnished by the committee on Appropriations apart from the HGAB itself,” she stressed.

But Tiangco pushed back, arguing that the small committee should have an independent and distinct report aside from the panel’s overall report.

Tiangco attributed his frustrations to the alleged practice by the small committee of making changes to the GAB, citing a purported instance last year wherein two undisclosed districts received massive additional increases in their allocations.

Inflated district budgets

A previous press release by Tiangco’s office claimed that one of the districts was allocated P21 billion in the 2025 GAA, despite an original endorsed budget of only P2.53 billion under the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP), amounting to an increase of P18.469 billion.

Another district, he said, received P20.795 billion in the GAA — P19.286 billion more than its initial P1.508 billion in the NEP.

Tiangco did not disclose the districts involved, saying the respective representatives might have been unaware of the changes.

The 2025 GAA has drawn intense backlash for allegedly featuring padded unprogrammed and discretionary funds while subsidies for key sectors like education and healthcare suffered deep cuts.

Critics also alleged that the budget was marred by anomalies, including last-minute “budget insertions” made behind closed doors in the bicameral conference committee.

Tiangco maintained that insertions of individual amendments begin as early as the small committee stage, prior to the bicam.

The small committee, tasked to accept and decide on individual amendments in the budget after its approval on second reading, has been a long-standing practice in Congress.

But Tiangco argued that all individual amendments must be done in open plenary sessions.

He previously urged Congress not to gloss over the controversy surrounding the 2025 budget and to hold small committee members accountable for questionable amendments.

Last year, allies of former president Rodrigo Duterte filed a complaint before the Ombudsman against several House leaders of the previous Congress, including Speaker Martin Romualdez, accusing them of “illegally” inserting P241 billion in “blank items” in the bicam report of the 2025 budget.

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

Blank items

Earlier, former appropriations panel senior vice chair Stella Quimbo admitted that there were blank items in the bicam but insisted that funding for them was already identified before bicam members signed the report, making it “lawful, valid, and fully enforceable.”

House leaders denied the allegations, dismissing them as mere political retaliation following the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.

The bicam is tasked with reconciling conflicting provisions in the House and Senate versions of the budget bill. Critics argued that amending its report after ratification undermines its purpose.

Bicam members and Malacañang categorically denied allegations of blank line items, questionable insertions, and re-allocations after Duterte allies brought the issue of the 2025 budget before the Supreme Court.

A petition from budget watchdogs and critics over the controversies surrounding this year’s budget has led to the abolition of the small committee and made bicam sessions accessible to select civil society organizations. The House said this was part of efforts to ensure transparency in the crucial budgetary process.

The 2025 GAA, initially set at P6.352 trillion, was trimmed to P6.326 trillion after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. vetoed P194 billion worth of line items deemed inconsistent with his administration’s priorities, including P16.7 billion for flood control projects.

Marcos had already issued a stern warning to lawmakers that he would return the 2026 GAB should it deviate from the NEP, even if it results in a reenacted budget.