Bicam Oks 2026 budget

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

• Farm-to-market roads get P33 billion

• DPWH budget cut goes to PhilHealth

MANILA, Philippines —  The bicameral conference committee finished reconciling the conflicting provisions of the Senate and House of Representatives General Appropriations Bill (GAB) during the wee hours of Thursday, moving to prevent a reenacted budget.

The bicam realigned P16.52 billion from the graft-tainted Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), and retained unprogrammed appropriations and the so-called “soft” pork barrel aid programs in the GAB.

These include the controversial Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) and the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS).

The budget for farm-to-market roads, which the Senate originally set at P16 billion, went up to P33 billion amid concerns raised by budget watchdogs that it was prone to corruption.

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, who was not part of the bicam, said MAIFIP and AICS would have safeguards to prevent their use for political patronage.

The bicam’s proposed 2026 budget for DPWH is now at P529.595 billion, down from the Senate GAB amount of P570.5 billion and House GAB’s P624.48 billion.

The DPWH budget was already significantly slashed by Congress earlier in the budget process, if compared to the executive department’s proposed P880 billion in the National Expenditure Program (NEP), a result of the backlash from the flood control corruption scandal.

The DPWH budget was the lawmakers’ last order of business at past midnight on Thursday, with the contentious agenda being the disagreement over the Senate’s proposed P45 billion reduction in DPWH’s GAB budget.

But Senate finance committee chair Sherwin Gatchalian said the reduction based on adjusted construction material price data (CMPD) resulted in a budget reduction of P20.7 billion from the original amount of P45 billion.

This P20.7 billion “savings” or DPWH budget reduction would be realigned as follows – P16.52 billion for PhilHealth, and P4.252 billion for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (NDRRMF).

In an ambush interview after the bicam, Gatchalian said the boost in PhilHealth’s budget was unprecedented because it would plug in the sin tax allocations that PhilHealth had long been deprived.

Thanks to the realignment, bicam proposed a P129.782 billion budgetary support for PhilHealth, a drastic increase from the zero subsidy given to the state insurer under the 2025 General Appropriations Act.

The DPWH funds realignment also resulted in a total bicam-proposed P39.8 billion budget for NDRRMF.

Gatchalian said he is confident President Marcos would not veto any budget items once enrolled, ratified and transmitted to Malacañang for his signature.

There was a slight delay in ratifying the enrolled bill, originally scheduled before Christmas.

The bicam report is expected to be signed by senators and congressmen on Dec. 28, ratified by both chambers on Dec. 29, and signed into law by the President on the same day.

Although the ratification of the 2026 budget is scheduled two days before the end of the year, Malacañang remains optimistic that a good spending bill will be enacted on time.

“The President is still confident that a good 2026 national budget will be signed,” Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said in a text message yesterday when asked if the Palace remains upbeat that the outlay would be signed into law before yearend.

DPWH will make do with lower budget

The DPWH can make do with the ?529-billion budget approved by the bicam for fiscal year 2026, despite it being nearly 40 percent lower than the original proposal, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said yesterday.

“The DPWH budget is at least ?529 billion, which is 40 percent lower than the ?881 billion originally proposed in the NEP (National Expenditure Program). That is more than ?300 billion lower,” Dizon said, adding that the department accepts the reduction.

“And that’s okay, because I believe—and the President believes, and Congress also believes—that what matters most in the budget is that it is clean and properly implemented,” he said in Filipino. “We will make do with what the Senate and the House have approved.”

Senate, House laud ‘transparent’ budget

The Senate majority led by Senate President Vicente Sotto III lauded the transparent and productive bicameral conference committee that threshed out the final version of the 2026 national budget.

“We in the Senate leadership and majority welcome the bicam approval of the P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026 and we call it the most transparent in recent memory because the public saw every step in full view, from committee briefings to plenary debates to the bicam itself, all on livestream and all archived for anyone who wants to follow the money,” read the Senate majority statement.

The last day of the bicam which started on Wednesday night adjourned at 2:22 a.m. the next day after four days of marathon talks to reconcile conflicting versions of the GAB.

The House also welcomed yesterday the approval of the bicameral conference committee of the proposed 2026 national budget, a reassurance there will be no re-enacted budget for next year.

“We can now confidently say, now that the bicam is done, that there will be no re-enacted budget,” House appropriations committee chair Rep. Mikaela Angela Suansing said in a chance interview.

“We just want to give the assurance that the executive has enough time to review (the P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026),” she said, adding they coordinated closely with the Department of Budget and Management to transmit finalized agency items.

No ‘pork’ in 2026 budget

Senators during Wednesday night’s bicameral conference committee meeting denied the allegation of ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio that the proposed 2026 national budget has a pork barrel fund for lawmakers.

“A lawmaker earlier today raised this issue that this became a pork barrel of the Senate. So kindly elaborate this further. Where did it go, the amount cut? Because one legislator was complaining and accusing us for putting it as our pork barrel,” Sen. Erwin Tulfo asked the bicam members, taking a swipe at Tinio.

Gatchalian said it was the Senate’s initiative to increase the Local Government Support Fund – the budget item Tinio labeled as pork – to help grassroots communities.

Tinio also alleged that the Senate’s alleged P17.9 billion pork barrel was sourced from slashing the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund.

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson also denied the allegations, calling Tinio’s research as sloppy, lazy work.

Instead, Tinio’s claim of realigning MPBF was not for pork barrel, but for increasing the subsistence allowance of uniformed personnel, including the police and coast guard.

House deputy minority leader and ML party-list Rep. Leila de Lima meanwhile slammed yesterday the bicameral conference committee for increasing, instead of removing, the budget for the unprogrammed appropriations for 2026. –  Delon Porcalla, Alexis Romero, Rainier Allan Ronda, Janvic Mateo, EJ Macababbad, Jose Rodel Clapano, Ghio Ong