Senators assure transparent bicam

Senators on Saturday, 13 December, assured that the bicameral conference committee will be open to scrutiny.

"We will keep an eye on the bicam. Let's make sure that the insertions that happened before will not happen again and that everything is transparent," Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan told reporters.

"So the bicam is open to the public to make sure that everything is clear, everything is transparent," Pangilinan added.

Meanwhile, Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III said the general appropriations bill and the annexes could be viewed on the Senate website.

Sotto earlier assured that this year's budget deliberations are the "cleanest" since 1992.

The bicameral conference committee convened on Saturday, 12 December, to reconcile the conflicting provisions of the House and Senate versions of the 2026 general appropriations measure.

Under Joint Senate Resolution No. 1, several senators said that “transparency and accountability must be the cornerstones of legislation.”

It stated that all bicameral conference committee deliberations must be open to the public, either in person or via livestream, that it shall produce a matrix comparing the differences between the Senate’s and Congress’ versions of the bill, and that it shall produce “comprehensive minutes” of the meeting.

Both the matrix and minutes will be made available to the public. For the first time, the bicameral conference committee will also be live-streamed on official channels.