Win: No horsetrading on funds re Sara ouster

Senator Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian said the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte was not discussed during the deliberations on the 2026 national budget.

“Well, in my case, we didn’t talk about the impeachment. We didn’t talk about the political side of things,” Gatchalian told reporters in a press briefing.

“What we talked about was the budgetary requirements as well as their impact on the people,” he added.

Gatchalian was responding to a claim by Senator Imee Marcos, a staunch ally of Duterte, that the “pork” in the 2026 national budget would be used to fund the impeachment of the Vice President.

“Every person has their own theory; I cannot comment on her theory,” Gatchalian said.

Marcos earlier slammed the budget, saying that several major projects suffered steep cuts.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed the P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026 but vetoed seven of 10 unprogrammed appropriations amounting to P92.5 billion out of a total P243.4 billion.

Following the veto, the amount of the Unprogrammed Appropriations in the 2026 General Appropriations Act was reduced to P150.9 billion, the lowest since 2019.