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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider House gives penultimate approval to P6.793-T national budget for 2026

House gives penultimate approval to P6.793-T national budget for 2026

Published Oct 10, 2025 06:23 pm

At A Glance

  • The House of Representatives passed on second reading the county's proposed 2026 national budget worth P6.793 trillion during a rare plenary session on late Friday afternoon, Oct. 10.
The House of Representatives (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)
The House of Representatives (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)


The House of Representatives passed on second reading the county's proposed 2026 national budget worth P6.793 trillion during a rare plenary session on late Friday afternoon, Oct. 10.
Deputy Speaker Ilocos Sur 2nd district Rep. Kristine Singson-Meehan, the presiding officer during the session, declared House Bill (HB) No.4058 or the 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) as approved on second reading at past 5:30 p.m. after a simple voice vote (ayes vs. nayes).
The ayes drowned out the nayes, thus setting up the GAB's third reading approval on Monday, Oct. 13.
Standing in plenary as sponsor of the measure was Committee on Appropriations Chairperson Nueva Ecija 1st district Rep. Mikaela Angela "Mika" Suansing.
Earlier during Friday's session, Majority Leader Ilocos Norte 1st district Rep. Sandro Marcos moved to replace the contents of HB No.4058 with a substitute measure to reflect the realignments made by the landmark Budget Amendments Review Sub-Committee (BARSc) to GAB next year.
An innovation of the 20th Congress and formed after allegations of budget insertions and flood control project anomalies were brought to the fore, the BARSc of the appropriations panel effectively replaced the "small committee".
Foremost of these realignments--which in the past was approved behind closed doors by the small committee--were those sourced from what was originally the Department of Public Works and Highways' (DPWH) P255.528-billion flood control project funds.
President Marcos himself ordered the removal of flood control project funds in the 2026 budget as a response to the massive corruption scandal.
BARSc realignments
Effectively included in the approved GAB were the BARSc's augmentations to the funding of three key sectors, namely P56.637 billion for education, P92.575 billion for health, and P53.754 billion for agriculture.
Rep. Marcos moved to adjourn the session after the budget measure's penultimate passage.
House Speaker Faustino "Bojie" Dy III said that the BARSc and other pro-transparency reforms that were implemented during this year's budget cycle sought to ensure that adjustments in the national budget were aligned with the Marcos administration’s priority programs.
This includes the reallocation of recovered funds from flood control projects to initiatives that directly benefit communities.
Dy added that the 2026 GAB--the largest in the country's history--was deliberated in open, livestreamed plenary sessions. This allowed citizens and civil society organizations to follow the process.
House stands firm on unprogrammed appropriations
During the individual amendments to the GAB, the House of Representatives rejected via voice vote the proposal of Akbayan Party-list Rep. Chel Diokno to scrap the unprogrammed appropriations (UA) amounting to P243.2 billion.
Diokno argued that in plenary that if the items in the UA were that important, then they should be included in the programmed appropriations.
"If these items are truly part of the budget priorities, then they should be included in the programmed appropriations of the respective departments' budgets. I so move, Madam Speaker,” he said.
In response, Suansing noted that the UA in the new version of the 2026 outlay no longer included the P35.86 billion for infrastructure budget.
She says that what remains in the UA is a total of P45 billion for the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) subsidies to farmers, and rice subsidies, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) augmentation for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
She said that the UA also included the funds for foreign-assisted projects (FAPs). “The FAPs infrastructure projects that are currently in the unprogrammed appropriations are there because of the specific reason. These projects did not make it to the deadline during the budget preparation."
Suansing say the FAP will be included in the programmed appropriations if the contract is finalized and it has already been approved by the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev).
"We are unable to do that (scrap UA) because we need to put in funding for foreign-assisted projects under unprogrammed appropriations," noted Suansing.
Post-enactment monitoring
Beyond transparency during deliberations, Dy says the House is working with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to develop a system for monitoring how agencies implement the budget once enacted.
He said the system will help prevent substandard projects and ghost spending by allowing real-time tracking of projects nationwide.
The House chief emphasized that transparency must extend beyond the budget’s passage and be reflected in how programs are implemented on the ground.
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