House ratifies bicam report on 2026 budget, BBM signature next

In less than a minute, the House of Representatives on Monday ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), finally advancing the measure to Malacañang for President Marcos Jr.’s signature after months of deliberations, without allowing any members to raise objections to the spending outlay. 

The House briefly reconvened to ratify the bicameral report, which reconciled the conflicting provisions of the House and Senate versions of the GAB, approved on Sunday. The session lasted roughly 10 minutes, while ratification took less than a minute. 

The House immediately adjourned the session right after the approval, but some members objected to the ratification of the bill, with “nay” heard during the voting. 

The Senate also ratified the same on the same day—Congress’ last day of session before it goes on a month-long break. 

Initially, the House and the Senate were supposed to adjourn session for the holidays on 22 December, but they extended the legislative calendar to give members of the bicam ample time to deliberate on the committee report. 

The bicam report was the outcome of the harmonized versions of the House and the Senate GAB, the final version of the national budget that will be signed into law by Marcos. 

Although the president could also veto it entirely or in part, as he did in the 2025 GAB. Of the vetoed items last year, P16.7 billion was meant for flood control projects, now at the center of an ongoing investigation for alleged corruption involving lawmakers, Cabinet members, DPWH officials, and private contractors. 

Marcos is expected to sign the 2026 GAB in the first week of January. The one-week delay is intended to give Marcos adequate time to review the budget, though it also means that the government would operate on a reenacted budget.

DPWH suffered deep cut

Under the enrolled bill, the graft-tainted DPWH accounted for the lion’s share of the funding cut, amounting to over P300 billion. 

To recall, the DPWH’s allocation for 2026 was initially set at P881.3 billion, but the House slashed P255 billion in locally funded flood control projects amid the alleged corruption in the floodgate scandal, leaving the department with only P625.7 billion. 

The allocation for the DPWH was further trimmed down to P568 billion in the GAB passed by the Senate.

The negotiations between the House and Senate bicam contingents, however, reached an impasse with neither camp willing to compromise. This contributed to the delay in approving the bicam report. 

Nonetheless, following several days of formal talks, House appropriations committee chairperson Mikaela Suansing said the bicam agreed to cut the DPWH’s funding to roughly P570 billion. 

At least P16.5 billion of the DPWH realigned funding will go to the PhilHealth, pushing its allocation to a whopping P129.76 billion, up from zero government subsidy in the 2025 GAA. 

The remaining was realigned to crucial sectors, such as education, agriculture, and social aid. 

'Pork barrel' remains

The Medical Assistance for Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients or MAIFIP under the Department of Health received boosted funding after the bicam raised its funding from P51.6 billion to P24.23 billion, which was endorsed by the Palace in the National Expenditure Program.

This, despite mounting objections from watchdogs calling for the abolition of MAIFIP derided as a soft pork barrel in the health sector.

The MAIFIP provides financial assistance to indigent patients to cover their medical expenses, but critics argued that the program risks becoming vulnerable to political patronage since it relies on guaranteed letters issued by politicians, including lawmakers. 

They contended that this undermines the Universal Health Care Act, which guarantees automatic access to medical services, and gives politicians complete discretion over the budget, exposing it to potential misuse. 

Unprogrammed funds

Aside from these programs, opposition lawmakers also flagged the 2026 budget due to unprogrammed appropriations (UA), which they branded the new face of “pork.”

The bicam retained the P243 UA in the 2026 budget, unfazed by the mounting clamor to scrap it. 

The amount was the allocation approved under the House GAB, three times larger than the Senate’s proposed P68.77 billion.

The UA is intended to serve as a standby fund outside the annual national budget. The executive only releases it when there are excess revenues or foreign grants or loans materialize to fund priority projects.

However, minority lawmakers and budget watchdogs have raised concerns that using the so-called standby funds for pre-planned projects, such as infrastructure and military modernization, effectively undermines the funds' intended use, which is solely for emergencies.

Moreover, they argued that placing such a big chunk of money outside the GAA gives Malacañang a blank check, while robbing Congress of its oversight powers, fueling concerns of fund misuse and corruption.

Under the House GAB, a big chunk of the UA will go for foreign-assisted projects (FAP)and Strengthening Assistance for Government Infrastructure and Social Programs, or SAGIP, with P97.3 billion and P80.9 billion, respectively. 

However, due to sharp criticism, the House appropriations panel agreed to remove P35 billion worth of infrastructure projects from the SAGIP. But opposition lawmakers still argued that there’s no use in defunding infrastructure from SAGIP if the allocation will be merely realigned to FAP, whose projects are mainly related to infrastructure and have long been associated with kickbacks and corruption. 

The UA has swelled to unprecedented levels since 2023, the first full year of Marcos in office, reaching almost P2 trillion. Though P168.2 billion was reportedly vetoed in the 2025 GAA.

In 2023 and 2024, a staggering P141 billion was allegedly charged to the UA to bankroll flood control projects.