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December 22, 2025 | 5:05pm
MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives extended its session calendar on Monday, December 22, to give the bicameral conference committee more time to submit and sign the report on the 2026 national budget, ahead of its expected ratification on December 29.
After Majority Leader Sandro Marcos moved for the schedule change, Deputy Speaker Yevgeny Emano approved the motion, adopting a new legislative calendar that moves the resumption of session to December 29 and the adjournment to December 30, instead of December 23.
“Mr. Speaker, I manifest before this body that additional time is required to complete the preparation and ratification of the conference committee report on the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for fiscal year 2026,” Marcos said at the plenary.
“The ratification of the said conference committee report is imperative to ensure the continuity of government operations and the faithful implementation of the national budget for the ensuing fiscal year,” he added.
Only one day to review
If ratification is set for December 29, Rep. Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers Party-list) asked just how much time the over 300-member body has to review the specific changes made to the budget bill.
“What the representative simply wants to know is whether all members will receive copies of the bicameral conference committee report before the day of ratification,” Tinio said in a mix of English and Filipino during his parliamentary inquiry.
He warned the chamber against repeating last year’s mistake of ratifying the bicameral conference committee report just hours after it was signed, particularly as claims of unnecessary budget insertions have stoked an already heated corruption scandal.
With the can of worms now out in the open, the lawmaker stressed that the Filipino people could no longer stand by as another allegedly corrupt budget is pushed through.
“We do not want a repeat of the old practice where members are given copies only at the last minute and then immediately asked to vote ‘ayes’ or ‘nays’ on ratification, only to be accused once again — rightly so — of acting as a mere rubber stamp,” Tinio added.
Marcos consulted with the appropriations committee when the session was briefly suspended, leading its chair, Rep. Mikaela Suansing (Nueva Ecija, 1st District), to assure the chamber that a copy would be given on December 28.
“With regard to the query of the Honorable Tinio, the bicameral conference committee members is targeting to sign the bicameral conference committee report on December 28 and after that we will share a copy of the bicameral conference committee report to the members on the same day, on December 28 as well,” she said.
While Tinio thanked Suansing for granting members a day to examine the bicam report, he stressed that a longer review period is necessary to ensure questionable line items are not approved.
“Thank you for the response from the chair of the Committee on Appropriations. This means members will be given one day. Of course, we would have preferred a longer period, but at least this is on the record, and hopefully we will indeed receive it so we can properly study the bicameral conference committee report,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.
For his part, Marcos believes there will be “ample time” to review the budget bill before its ratification.
Bicam talks, delays, funding disputes
The 20th Congress marked the first time bicameral talks were made public. Starting December 13, the proceedings lasted five days across four hearings, which was much longer than last year’s.
There were several hiccups in the bicam conference proceedings for the 2026 GAB that were primarily driven by the last-minute requests from agencies to boost their budget.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) caused the most controversy, revealing how lawmakers discussed disputed provisions on the sidelines or in private huddles outside the livestream despite promises of transparency.
The agency also requested the restoration of P45 billion that had been cut from the Senate’s version of the bill to cover the alleged inaccurate calculation of material costs of some projects.
The issue led the Senate to postpone the December 14 hearing despite the House contingent being ready, and it also caused a four-hour delay the next day.
The hearing only resumed around 8 p.m. on December 15, after the Senate recalculated material price data to ensure there was no overpricing and that the correct figures were used for each region, which vary.
All agency budgets were approved in the early hours of December 17. The DPWH budget was then reduced to P529.6 billion, with P16.5 billion realigned to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) and the remaining P4.2 billion to the national calamity fund.
While this move is considered positive by some, budget watchdogs have raised concerns over other bicam changes, including the restored P243 billion in unprogrammed funds and dole-out programs like AICS and MAIFIP, which critics argue may be used for political patronage.
With ratification scheduled for December 29, this means President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. only has two days to veto any line items and sign the bill into the P6.793 trillion General Appropriations Act of 2026. Or else, there would be a reenacted budget.
