Gatchalian: 2026 General Appropriations Bill now available on HoR website
At A Glance
- Senate Finance Committee chairman Senator Sherwin Gatchalian made the announcement Thursday, stating that the move is in line with the Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4 on transparency.
The General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for 2026, the government’s proposed spending measure for its operations programs and projects, is now available on the House of Representatives’ website.
https://docs.congress.hrep.online/legisdocs/third_20/HBT4058.pdf
Senate Finance Committee chairman Senator Sherwin Gatchalian made the announcement Thursday, stating that the move is in line with the Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4 on transparency.
“I'm pleased to inform everyone that the GAB together with the annexes has been uploaded in the HoR website and the digital copy has been transmitted to the Senate,” Gatchalian said.
The senator also said this is the first that the GAB has been uploaded and sent in digital format.
In previous practice, only one copy of the four (4) volumes of the GAB is sent to the Senate and senators are expected to share in perusing the document.
Now, each senator will have a digital copy of the GAB.
“We will send each senator a digital copy of the GAB in a USB tomorrow,” he said.
Earlier, the Senate approved Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4 which seeks to strengthen the national budget process by institutionalizing strict transparency and accountability measures with the aim of ensuring that public funds are protected and spent properly and aligned with the government’s priorities.
Gatchalian had earlier promised that under his watch as Senate finance committee chairman, it would be a “golden age of transparency and accountability.”
“As Finance Committee chairman, I will not allow any insertion in the budget. I will also make sure that we will be very strict when it comes to confidential funds,” the senator had said.
“Existing technological innovations now allow for centralized, accessible, and searchable platforms for budget data that are responsive to the principles of open government and digital governance,” he stressed.