Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto maintained there will be no more insertions in the P6.793 trillion proposed national budget during the bicameral conference committee deliberations on Saturday, 13 December, at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay.
"Wala, bawal ang insertion. Ang insertion na ginagawa pag bicam na or after bicam, di pwede yan. Hindi kami payag dun (No. There will be no insertions. Insertions may be made during the bicameral meeting or after will no longer be allowed)," Sotto said in a TV interview.
"Binilinan ko si Sherwin [Gatchalian] kung ano ang napag-usapan sa House, kung ano ang napag-usapan sa Senate, ang ang aming pagdedebatehan doon sa bicam (I already reminded Senator Sherwin Gatchalian that what was discussed in the House and in the Senate, then those are what will be debated during the bicameral meeting)," he added.
The senator assured that no new amendments will be introduced and that the sources from other departments and individual amendments that they think need to be given attention are visible on the Senate website.
"As far as the Senate is concerned, there is no pork barrel," he added.
The bicameral meeting was originally scheduled to begin from 12 December until Sunday, 14 December, however, Senate finance committee chair Gatchalian said the technical staff of both chambers needed more time to reconcile the disagreeing provisions and amounts.
For the first time, the bicameral conference committee will be live-streamed on Saturday, giving the public a glance into how lawmakers reconcile conflicting provisions in the national budget.
While only lawmakers and their staff will be physically allowed inside the room for now, he assured that all documents, including transcripts, will be publicized.
"There is no secret bicam. The discussions will take place in the bicam," Gatchalian told reporters in a virtual press conference on Friday, 12 December.
Gatchalian also earlier said they will limit the discussions to conflicting provisions and allocations of the budget, beginning with the General Appropriations Bill.
The proposed P6.7-trillion national budget for 2026 may be sent to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. for signing by 29 December, according to the senator.