The President has no role to be an observer in the deliberations of the national budget, Senate deputy minority leader Senator Risa Hontiveros said. 

Hontiveros pointed this out as she opposed President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s prospective role as an observer during the bicameral conference committee meeting on the proposed 2026 national budget.

Hontiveros warned allowing the President to proceed and be an observer during the upcoming deliberations on the proposed 2026 national budget may raise issues about its constitutionality. 

“Even if the President is willing, he cannot. He should not. The Constitution does not allow it,” Hontiveros said at the Kapihan sa Senado on Wednesday, May 21. 

“The power of the purse is wielded by Congress and Congress alone—not the Executive, not any member of the Executive, not even the Chief Executive,” she said. 

“It’s enough for the Executive department to submit the national expenditure program to the House of Representatives. From then on, it is in the legislature's hands and in our hands alone,” the senator explained.

“After the bicam (meeting) where only two panels will sit, only then will the Office of the President have the power to either sign or veto line items,” she pointed out. 

Hontiveros warned that charges may be filed against them if the Executive insists on allowing Marcos to sit as an observer during the bicameral meeting on the national budget. 

“They might be sued, right, I mean, they’re not even out of the woods yet with regards to the complaints about our current 2025 budget. Would they add more problems to their 2026 budget?”

“It’s their call, but I think it’s wrong,” Hontiveros stated. 

Hontiveros said that up until now, they are still waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on the charges that were filed against the administration regarding the alleged blank items in the bicameral conference committee report on the 2025 national budget. 

“I am waiting for the Supreme Court's decision on the case filed. There are proposed reforms, budget reforms, that have been presented beautifully. Some of these were proposed by Senator Ping Lacson,” she pointed out. 

“There are many long-standing proposals on budget reforms pushed by those budget reform advocates that we should consider and implement first rather than having the President go to the bicam,” she stressed.