Marcos waiving Yuletide break

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will not take a holiday break but instead use the period to study the proposed 2026 national budget and ensure that it is free of legislative abuse, Malacañang said Friday.

“To the President, there is no need for a Christmas break — we really need to study this and push for it to be signed before the end of the year,” said Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro in a briefing.

She said officials of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) will join the President in reviewing the ratified Bicameral Conference Committee (Bicam) report and, if needed, call on agency heads for clarifications.

Marcos held lengthy meetings in December with Cabinet members to streamline the budget, including cutting funding for the Department of Public Works and Highways and boosting education funding.

The Bicam deliberations ended on 17 December and a top member of the body said a report would be signed on 28 December and ratified the next day, leaving the President only days to scrutinize it before the end of the year.

Budget must be new

Mr. Marcos indicated that he does not want a reenacted budget, even as lawmakers suggested that the Executive not rush the budget but instead use a reenacted 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Castro said the President is expected to have a copy of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for 2026 earlier but assured the public that even with a very tight timeline, the budget will be studied well.

“This time, the President will insist that the 2026 national budget be carefully studied, ensuring that the enrolled bill will be studied, focused on, scrutinized to ensure that the provisions contained therein are in line with the administration’s priorities — a clean, humane and focused bill, or rather that the provisions therein are for the people,” she said.

Castro emphasized that the President will not hesitate to use his veto power, despite firm assurances from members of Congress that the budget is clean.

“If Congress says it has been studied thoroughly, the President will still study it and the President will assure the public that this is a humane and sound national budget,” she said.

Complete bill needed

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the Senate is targeting 29 December for the ratification of the proposed 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA) to ensure that lawmakers approve a complete and fully verified enrolled bill, rather than a summary of the bicameral report.

“On Monday we will resume… my understanding with Majority Leader [Juan Miguel Zubiri] I will entertain a motion to extend the suspension until the 29th,” Sotto said.

He said the extension would give the budget offices of both chambers enough time to complete the printing and consolidation of the enrolled bill and its supporting documents.

Sotto said the Senate leadership agreed that ratification should proceed only once the enrolled bill is finalized and clearly laid out, noting that the entire budget process — from sponsorship to bicameral deliberations — was conducted openly and made accessible to the public and the media.