President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday announced that the bicameral conference committee deliberations on the proposed P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026 will be livestreamed.
This is the process in which the Senate and House of Representatives thresh out differences and arrive at a common version of the General Appropriations Act, which the president will sign to become the General Appropriations Bill.
In a brief interview with the media in Malacañang, Marcos said, ‘To further encourage transparency, I intend to livestream the bicam.’
‘There is no more small committee. Dating ginagawa [What is previously being done is] that they have a bicam and then they suspend it as a small committee. Wala nang small committee [There will be no more small committee],’ he also said.
According to Marcos, this decision was a result of his agreement with Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III and House Speaker Faustino ‘Bojie’ Dy III.
‘I’m going to livestream the entire process so that if there are questionable, shall we say insertions or additions or all that, it will also be clear who made those changes or who proposed those changes so that people know,’ he said.
Approved on Third Reading
On Monday, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading House Bill No. 10800, or the proposed 2026 national budget.
In Wednesday’s interview, Marcos was asked whether he finds the House version ‘acceptable,’ given his earlier statement that he would veto the budget if it failed to fully align with the government’s National Expenditure Program.
‘I’m hoping and I’m very confident that that’s not going to be necessary simply because we have been involved.I have been involved in detail on the preparation, especially in the House, of the budget,’ he responded.
‘And as far as we have been able to examine, there are no projects that are listed there, there are no items that are listed there that are outside of the socioeconomic development plan of the Philippines,’ Marcos also said.
Marcos’ announcement aligns with the calls of several lawmakers for transparency in bicameral deliberations.
Last July, Mamamayang Liberal party-list Representative Leila de Lima, Akbayan party-list Representtives Chel Diokno, Perci Cendana, and Dadah Kiram Ismula, along with Albay Rep. Krisel Lagman, filed Joint Resolution No. 2, which sought to open the bicam deliberations to the public-either by allowing in-person attendance or by livestreaming the proceedings online. /cb