Senate postpones third day of budget bicam

The bicameral conference committee’s deliberations were postponed as the Senate and the House of Representatives worked to resolve issues related to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget for 2026.

On Saturday, the bicameral committee suspended discussions on the proposed national budget following a last-minute appeal by DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon to restore portions of the agency’s allocation that had been reduced due to Construction Materials Price Data (CMPD) adjustments.

Dizon said the across-the-board application of CMPD-based reductions to roughly 10,000 projects in the General Appropriations Bill could render some contracts unimplementable. He stressed that the department was not seeking full restoration of its original budget and was not asking for the reinstatement of deleted items, including flood control projects.

The secretary cited President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to accelerate infrastructure implementation to address slow economic growth as the reason for seeking the return of approximately P45 billion in funding.

Deliberations were supposed to resume Monday, but Senate Committee on Finance chair Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian announced that the Senate side had decided to postpone the supposed third day of talks, describing the issue as a “deadlock.”

“After the caucus, we said let’s postpone the bicam today first so that we can resolve this issue with the House and also with the DPWH,” Gatchalian said.

“We can call it a deadlock in this aspect, but we are trying to find a solution,” he added.

Meanwhile, House Appropriations Committee chair Mikaela Suansing said the House wanted deliberations to continue as scheduled.

“As far as the House is concerned, we wanted to push through with the bicam today,” Suansing said during a Zoom interview.

Suansing arrived at the Philippine International Convention Center minutes after the Senate announcement, where eight House conferees were already present.

She said the House wanted to stick to its timeline, with ratification of the bicameral report in both chambers targeted for 22 December 2025.

“There is a timeline that we want to follow. As you can see, we have adjusted the calendar of the session so that on December 22, we have ratified this in both chambers, in the same assembly our bicam report,” Suansing said.

“There are many agencies that need to be discussed. That is why every day is important for us to finish the budget on time,” she added.

Suansing said she did not want to characterize the DPWH budget issue as a deadlock, describing it instead as part of ongoing discussions between the chambers.

“Sen. Win Gatchalian himself said that there are just some ongoing discussions. There are things that we want to consult with Secretary Vince because, as we saw yesterday, the position of the House, the Senate, and the DPWH is the same,” she said.

“We all recognize that there are overpriced items as initially estimated by the DPWH, and we all have the conviction that we want to remove the overpriced part included in the project estimates,” Suansing added.

She said the Senate relayed its decision to postpone the session but maintained that the bicameral committee remains the proper forum for resolving the issue.

“What was relayed to me was the decision that the Senate wants to postpone and consult again with the DPWH,” she said.

“I wanted it to be a conversation among the Senate contingent, the House contingent, and the DPWH. This could be the proper forum,” she added.

Suansing also clarified that the Senate did not exclude the House in its planned consultations with the DPWH.

“More of Sen. Win expressed that they would still want further consultation with the DPWH, but that doesn’t preclude us from being part of the conversation,” she said.

Despite the delay, Suansing said she remains confident that the proposed budget will be passed on time and will not be reenacted.