Gatchalian: P1.28B duplicate, flagged projects scrapped from GAB

A total of P1.28 billion worth of projects were removed from the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) now under Senate scrutiny, Senate Finance Committee chairperson Senator Sherwin Gatchalian confirmed.

According to Gatchalian, the deleted projects were found to have duplicate entries, repetitive allocations, and red flags.

“I heard the Senate President mentioned earlier about projects that were allegedly removed from the GAB. So, for the record, we haven't touched any projects at the GAB. We've adopted all the projects submitted to us from the House of Representatives (HOR), except for 28 out of the 6,113 projects,” Gatchalian said during Thursday night’s budget deliberations.

“These 28 projects, upon review with the DPWH, were found to have duplicate projects, repetitive projects, and projects with red flags. So, these 28 projects, amounting to P1.2 billion, were removed. Other than that, we adopted the projects under the General Appropriations Bill that was transmitted to the Senate. There is no truth to the claim that we have stopped the projects,” he added.

Gatchalian also noted that, for the first time, the Senate uploaded the committee report on its website along with the annexes reflecting the projects that were deleted or added.

“If we don't move the projects, they won't be included in the committee report because they are still with the GAB. I think when they looked at the committee report, the projects weren't there, and they assumed we deleted them. That is not the case, I think. I assume that they misinterpreted the Senate Committee report,” he clarified.

In an earlier interview, Gatchalian said the Senate and the House of Representatives have agreed to allot at least five days for bicameral deliberations on the 2026 National Budget, scheduled for the end of the second week of December.

“The bicam would last five days. Kung tatanggapin naman ng Congress ang Senate version, then may mapapadali sya, depende sa disagreement ng mga lawmakers. Pag-uusapan pa rin namin, but nagsisimula na ang coordination, ground rules, and timetable. We already identified a venue, which is a government facility in Intramuros, Manila,” he said.