The executive branch ought to submit the National Expenditure Program (NEP) to Congress earlier starting next year.

Thus, said House Committee on Appropriations Chairperson Nueva Ecija 1st district Rep. Mikaela Angela "Mika" Suansing, as Congress rush to have the P6.793-trillion 2026 national budget ratified and then signed by President Marcos on Monday, Dec. 29.

“Hopefully po, by next year we’ll be able to finish earlier," Suansing said in a chance interview Sunday afternoon, Dec. 28, referring to the process of budget legislation.

The goal of Congress (House of Representatives and Senate) is to have the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) enacted before the end of the current fiscal year. Failure to do will lead to the usage of the previously signed or enacted budget, which the government avoids to do as much as possible.

The House, which possesses the power of the purse, gets first dibs on the NEP, which becomes the basis of the GAB or proposed national budget. The NEP emanates from Malacañang.

Suansing noted that this year, the House received the NEP over two weeks after the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 28.

"It was around two weeks later than it was last year. Aug. 13 na po namin natanggap yung NEP (We received the NEP on Aug.13)," she said.

"Hopefully if we’re able to receive it immediately after the SONA or a few days after the SONA, that would greatly help us manage the timeline," reckoned the appropriations panel chief.

The year's budget process was among the most contentious and most scrutinzed in history, since it was carried out amid public outrage over the flood control projects corruption scandal.

These anomalous projects--which facilitated millions, if not billions worth of kickbacks to lawmaker-proponents--demonized the concept of budget insertions and triggered an overhaul at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The usually closed-door Bicameral Conference Committee hearings on the 2026 GAB was also livestreamed for the first time this year. The hearings took six days to complete--much longer compared to past bicams.