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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Congress adds 3 days to legislative calendar to tackle 2026 budget

Congress adds 3 days to legislative calendar to tackle 2026 budget

Published Aug 12, 2025 05:31 pm

At A Glance

  • The Senate and House extended the first regular session of the 20th Congress by three days to allow earlier transmittal and deliberation of the 2026 General Appropriations Bill, ensuring sufficient time to pass the budget before year-end.
Three days were added to the legislative calendar of the first regular session of the 20th Congress to accommodate the timely transmittal, deliberation, and approval of the 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. formally receives the copy of the Fiscal Year 2026 National Expenditure Program from Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman on Aug. 12, 2025 in a ceremonial turnover in Malacañan.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. formally receives the copy of the Fiscal Year 2026 National Expenditure Program from Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman on Aug. 12, 2025 in a ceremonial turnover in Malacañan.
This was made through the adoption on Tuesday, Aug. 12, of Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 5 of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Under it, the commencement of the session will be from July 28, 2025, to October 10, 2025, which was originally up to October 3. The adjournment of the session was also amended to October 11, 2025, to November 9, 2025, from October 4.
"This is nothing new, we have done this before, and the changes in the legislative calendar aim to ensure that we will have sufficient time for a thorough examination and deliberation on the proposed national budget," Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva said.
He added that this in accordance with their constitutional duty to enact the annual appropriations law before the start of the next fiscal year.
Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero said that their House counterparts had gotten in touch with him, Villanueva, and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Committee on Finance, requesting this change.
"Because if we do not change it according to them, they will be giving us the GAB on Nov. 11, which will effectively reduce by over a week our time to tackle the budget," Escudero said.
By adjusting the calendar, Escudero said that the House can submit the GAB to them on Oct. 24.
"Although it's still recess, the Committee on Finance can already process it, and when we open, when we resume our sessions, we will be able to begin tackling the budget already in plenary," he added.

Related Tags

NEP Joel Villanueva Chiz Escudero 2026 national budget House of Representatives
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