By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter
PHILIPPINE LAWMAKERS on Thursday reconciled disagreeing provisions of the proposed P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026, ending Congress’ review of the spending plan marked by one of the most contentious proceedings in recent years amid a corruption scandal over flood control projects.
They aim to ratify the budget bill in the last week of December, giving President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. a short window to review the spending plan despite Congress’ intention to allow the Executive more time.
Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, who heads the Senate Finance Committee, said the bicameral report would likely be signed on Dec. 28 and ratified by both the Senate and House of Representatives on Dec. 29, with Mr. Marcos expected to sign it that same day without vetoes.
The President has until Dec. 31 to sign the spending bill, or next year’s appropriations will automatically revert to the 2025 budget.
Congress will amend its legislative calendar to meet the ratification date, Nueva Ecija Rep. and House Appropriations Committee chair Mikaela Angela B. Suansing said, as lawmakers are set to adjourn by next week.
“I’m confident that nothing will be vetoed,” Mr. Gatchalian told reporters after the bicameral conference committee discussions on House Bill No. 4085.
Senators and congressmen in the bicameral conference committee resolved differences after six days of debates, broadcast live for the first time, with disagreements over funding for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) threatening to stall proceedings.
“This budget will truly address the needs of our people, and above all, this budget is corruption-free,” Mr. Gatchalian told the joint congressional panel. “Most importantly, this budget, I can say, will be the standard for transparency.”
The reconciliation of differing allocations between the House and Senate marks the end of their review of the Executive’s budget, submitted in August and reshaped with reforms to restore public trust after a widening multibillion‑peso kickback scheme involving anomalous infrastructure deals.
Final allocations for some line items were not immediately available, though Mr. Gatchalian said updates would be posted online for public scrutiny.
The panel agreed to trim P20.7 billion from the DPWH budget, based on adjusted material costs, rather than the P45-billion cut originally sought by senators.
“I’m confident to say that there are no overpriced materials in this budget,” Mr. Gatchalian said. Disputes over DPWH funding had stalled talks earlier in the week, with congressmen warning that drastic cuts could hinder economic activity.
Public Works Secretary Vivencio B. Dizon on Sunday urged lawmakers to restore cuts, warning that slower government spending could weigh on growth, which eased to 4% in the third quarter amid the corruption scandal.
“As much as possible, we want to avoid the economic impact of unimplementable projects,” Ms. Suansing told the same panel. “It may have a big effect on our economy.”
“It will hit our infrastructure spending and that would have a detrimental effect on our growth,” she added.
John Paolo R. Rivera, senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, said lawmakers likely sought to balance support for economic growth with fiscal discipline in an agency embroiled in a widening flood control scandal.
“Maintaining the full cut would have sent a stronger signal on accountability, but a calibrated restoration recognizes the need to support activity,” he said in a Viber message. “Ultimately, the right move depends on whether lawmakers can prove value for money. Without that, higher spending risks doing more harm than good.
The bicameral panel kept the P255 billion cut for flood control works, though Mr. Gatchalian said ongoing projects already have funding under previous budgets.
“That does not mean there are no more flood control projects,” he said. “There are still around P300 billion worth of projects not yet completed.”
Lawmakers increased the Education department’s budget by 9.9% to P961.3 billion, largely to support the construction of 34,000 new classrooms in 2026, and raised the school feeding program allocation to P25.6 billion to extend coverage from 120 to 180 days.
“The reallocations are very welcome as these will help address issues of the learning crisis,” Philippine Business for Education Executive Director Hanibal Camua said in a Viber message.
The Agriculture department and its agencies saw a 20.7% increase to P185.77 billion for farm-to-market roads, post-harvest facilities and other modernization initiatives.
Allocations for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) rose by 14.8% to P129.78 billion, partly sourced from DPWH savings. This includes P60 billion to be restored to the state health insurer after authorities diverted it last year to other projects, following a Supreme Court order in early December for its return through the budget.
“This is not sufficient to cover for the premiums of the 24.5 million indirect contributors,” budget watchdog People’s Budget Coalition said in a report, adding that lawmakers failed to require gambling agencies to contribute under the Universal Healthcare Act.
Funding for the Health department’s program to provide financial aid to poor patients was raised to P51 billion, up from P24.2 billion under the Executive’s proposal.
Two railway projects also had lower allocations after the joint congressional panel. Funding for the North-South Commuter Railway was cut by 50% to P28.8 billion from P57.6 billion, while the Metro Manila Subway Project’s budget was slashed by 48% to P20.4 billion from P39.2 billion, with some savings redirected to the Light Rail Transit (LRT-1) Cavite extension and Metro Manila rail improvements.
The bicameral conference committee also agreed to hike funding for the government’s cash assistance program for indigent Filipinos, long criticized as prone to politicking, by 8% to P63.9 billion from P59 billion in the budget bill.
Military base construction received an additional P2.38 billion, while modernization programs were kept at P40 billion, with another P50 billion in unprogrammed appropriations will be available if revenues permit.
Unprogrammed funds, intended for use if excess revenues or new collections arise, now total P243.4 billion, including increased incentives for vehicle manufacturing to P4.3 billion from P333 million. Mr. Gatchalian said these funds would not be used for flood control or unrelated projects.
The budget will return to each chamber for separate ratification before being sent to Malacañang for review by Mr. Marcos.
“We just want to give the assurance that the Executive has enough time to review,” Ms. Suansing told reporters after the bicameral panel discussions.
Mr. Gatchalian said Congress is working with the Budget department to ensure a timely review of the final 2026 spending bill, even as they are yet to finalize the documents that will be submitted to the Executive.
“What we are doing now is synchronized review,” he told reporters. “They have real-time numbers.”
Mr. Marcos last year vetoed P194 billion worth of line items in the 2025 P6.326-trillion national budget, saying those he removed were inconsistent with his administration’s priorities. This year’s spending plan faced controversy during 2024 deliberations over alleged blank line items filled in by the Executive and bloated standby funds.
‘PERFORMATIVE TRANSPARENCY’Analysts said that while the budget process was livestreamed, it was largely tokenistic as lawmakers held backroom talks during long downtimes and did not provide open access to documents.
“The livestreaming of the bicameral conference was by and large performative transparency,” Joy G. Aceron, convenor-director of transparency group G-Watch, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
“It is really not enough for only a part of the budget process to be transparent, there should be transparency, participation and accountability at all levels from preparations to implementation to accountability,” she added.
Meanwhile, AJ A. Montesa, an advisor at budget watchdog People’s Budget Coalition, said the 2026 spending plan is still saddled with “pork barrel” insertions, like those provided to the Social Welfare and Health department’s indigent aid program.
“For whatever good fixing the DPWH budget did, it seems that Congress has now resorted to parking the pork in soft programs framed as aid,” he said in a Viber message.
For his part, Mr. Gatchalian said that “no budget is perfect,” adding that people will always find shortcomings.
“You will always find areas that are lacking, but you will also find aspects that are good,” he told reporters in Filipino.