Bicam concludes debates on 2026 spending outlay, assures no reenacted budget

The bicameral conference committee wrapped up Thursday the marathon deliberations on the proposed P6.7-trillion spending plan for 2026, allaying fears of a reenacted budget. 

A reenacted budget would mean that the previous year's General Appropriations Act (GAA) would remain in effect until both chambers of Congress—the House and the Senate—pass the current GAB. This may result in an economic slowdown and hinder the delivery of government services, as new programs and projects will lack funding. 

Following a four-day grueling debate on the 2026 GAB, the bicam, composed of selected members from the House and the Senate, raced against time to conclude the deliberations after Malacanang declared that it’s not in favor of a reenacted budget.

Efforts to approve the committee report before Christmas were unsuccessful as bicam members locked in a standoff over key budget provisions, including allocation for the DPWH, medical, and social aid, which pushed the timeline of the ratification of the bill from the initial 22 December to 29 December. The last day of the meeting ended exactly at 2:22 a.m. on Thursday after a 10-hour meeting.

Bicam chairs, Rep. Mikaela Suansing and Senator Win Gatchalian, are adamant that President Marcos Jr. will simply sign the enrolled bill, saying chances of veto—seen in this year’s budget—are highly unlikely.

Flood control no more

“I’m confident that nothing will be vetoed. Very confident,” Gatchalian told reporters. “[A]ll the safeguards are included in this budget. So, there will be no recurrence of flood control, ghost projects, and substandard.”

Suansing chimed in, assuring that no line items were removed or inserted without proper coordination.

She said the timeline was strategically designed to give the President and his economic managers ample time to scrutinize the budget before the GAB is put into law before the end of the year.

“We just want to give the assurance that the executive has enough time to review,” Suansing guaranteed.

This year’s budget, derided by critics as the “most corrupt” budget in Philippine history, was initially set at P6.352 trillion. 

However, it was trimmed to P6.326 trillion after Marcos Jr. vetoed P194 billion in line items deemed inconsistent with his administration's priority programs, of which P16.7 billion was for flood control projects.

The budget cut was reportedly triggered by “budget insertions” that were heavily blamed on the bicam that approved the final version of the budget bill before it was submitted to the President for signature. 

The House and Senate contingent to the bicam were deadlocked over whether to approve additional cuts to the already slashed budget of the DPWH, given the controversies surrounding the anomalous flood control projects.

However, according to Suansing, the bicam reached a consensus to cut P90 billion from the DPWH’s budget that the House approved.

“So, we’re roughly at P570 billion for DPWH. So, that’s a substantial decrease. Almost P300 billion decrease from the original level of P881 billion in the NEP (National Expenditure Program),” she told reporters.

To recall, the DPWH’s allocation for 2026 was initially pegged at P881.3 billion, but the House slashed P255 billion worth of locally funded flood control projects and realigned the funds to other programs, such as education, health, and agriculture, leaving the department with only P625.7 billion. 

However, the Senate further trimmed it down to P568 billion under its version of the GAB.