Metro Manila, Philippines – There will be no closed-door negotiations on the 2026 budget outside of the livestreamed bicameral conference committee meetings that will finalize the ₱6.793-trillion national spending plan, Senate finance committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian said.
“Walang secret bicam [There will be no secret bicam],” Gatchalian said in an online media interview on Friday, Dec. 12.
He also assured the public that lawmakers are not holding any meetings ahead of the first-ever livestreaming of the proceedings this weekend. He said no lawmaker has called him up to push for any amendment to the budget.
“Lahat napag-usapan naman e during the budget deliberations, the technical working group, period of amendments, so ang daming opportunity para mapag-usapan ‘yun,” he said.
[Translation: Everything was already discussed during the budget deliberations – the technical working group meetings, the period of amendments – so there were many opportunities to talk about these things.]
Gatchalian said remaining proposals may still be raised and discussed during the public meeting, but he hopes colleagues will limit their proposed amendments to disagreeing provisions and avoid introducing new ones.
He acknowledged that he continues to receive requests for budget augmentation from various government agencies.
“Ako personally I tell them wala nang chance kasi tapos na yung third reading version ng Senate,” he said.
[Translation: Personally, I tell them there’s no chance because the Senate’s third reading version is already done.]
Bicam meetings have long been criticized for closed-door discussions that enabled last-minute insertions. Lawmakers, allegedly in cahoots with other government officials, are accused of pushing for amendments to accommodate questionable flood control projects with provisions for kickbacks.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have committed to livestream this year’s bicam sessions in response to the flood control corruption scandal.
The meetings are set for Dec. 13–14, a day of delay from the initial Dec. 12 schedule. Senate leaders said the technical staff of both chambers requested more time to complete the groundwork.
Gatchalian said the technical teams are comparing the House and Senate versions of the budget to produce a matrix outlining the differences, along with other logistical preparations.
“They wanna make sure lang na lahat ng items ay nakikita nila kasi once na may kaunting mali lang, magiging mali rin yung discussion,” Gatchalian explained.
[Translation: They just want to make sure they can see every item because even a small error can lead to problems during the discussion.]
He added that the delay is “worth it” and necessary to ensure transparent proceedings.
