House Committee on Appropriations Chairperson Nueva Ecija 1st district Rep. Mikaela "Mika" Suansing said that her panel will take minimal rest once it starts deliberations on the P6.793-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2026.

Suansing, 33, led the organizational meeting of the appropriations panel Thursday, Aug. 14 ahead of its kick off of the budget deliberations this coming Monday, Aug. 18--two weeks than earlier scheduled.

"So, on Aug. 18, all systems go full blast. We start with the DBCC (Development Budget Coordination Committee). And then after that, tuloy-tuloy na yan (that will go on continuously),"she said in a chance interview with reporters.

The NEP is the precursor to the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) or the legislated budget measure.

In the annual budget cycle, the marathon, per agency hearings on the NEP is arguably the most grueling phase on the part of the House members as these could go on for over 10 hours.

"We have daily committee hearings all the way through the week of Sept. 16. So, even Fridays of September, we have hearings every day. The only time that we are going to take a break is during the holidays," Suansing said.

"There are three holidays in August, but apart from that, we have hearings every single day," she added.

On top of this, the House carries out plenary sessions from Monday to Wednesday.

Suansing earlier said that they would tackle the DBCC on Sept. 1, but moved up its hearing after the House received the copy of the 2026 NEP from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Wednesday.

Suansing said the appropriations panel will also implement innovations on the budget process this year for the purpose of improving transparency. These are the Budget Amendments Review Sub-committee and the People's Budget Review. 

Both have been tentatively set on Fridays as the panel conducts hearings.

“Tentatively po ang aming tinitignan ay once a week maghi-hear yung budget amendments review sub-committee, end of the week. So, lahat po na mga isusumite na mga proposed amendments para sa linggong iyon ay didingin po sa budget amendments review committee sa dulo ng linggo. So, every Friday, mga Friday afternoon siguro,” she said.

(Tentatively, what we're looking at is that the budget amendments review sub-committee will hold hearings once a week, at the end of the week. So, all proposed amendments submitted for that week will be heard by the budget amendments review committee at the end of the week. So, every Friday, probably Friday afternoon.)

In previous years, the House formed a small committee of just four to five members to collect the proposed individual amendments after the GAB was already approved on third and final reading.

House Speaker Martin Romualdez earlier ordered the small committee scrapped.

Meanwhile, the People's Budget Review is where the appropriations committee will engage civil society organizations (CSOs) and public "watch dogs" on the topic of the budget.

"Yung po yung kinomit ko na magkakaroon po ng engagement, yung Committee on Appropriations sa ating [CSOs] and people's organizations (That’s what I committed to, that there will be engagement between the Committee on Appropriations and our [CSOs] and people’s organizations)," Suansing said.

"So, ibigigay po natin yung araw na yun para sa People's Budget Review na pwede nilang ilatag lahat po ng kanilang mga tanong at kanilang mga suhestiyon patongkol po sa ating budget (So, we will dedicate that day for the People’s Budget Review, where they can present all their questions and suggestions regarding our budget). So, that's also there included in our schedule," she added.