Lawmakers on Thursday called for an ‘open and transparent’ bicameral conference committee through livestreamed proceedings to restore public trust amid allegations of insertions in previous budgets.
In a joint statement, House Deputy Minority Leader and Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Partylist Rep. Leila de Lima and fellow Liberal Party (LP) lawmakers urged the Committee to implement a raft of measures to ensure transparency.
‘Amid the corruption issues hounding the passage of previous national budgets-made worse by the secretive nature of the bicameral conference committee where controversial insertions are allegedly made-implementing an open and transparent bicam is long overdue. It is not optional. It is non-negotiable,’ the solons said.
The House earlier passed the proposed P6.793 trillion National Budget for 2026 on third and final reading, with the Senate plenary budget deliberations ongoing. This would be moved to the bicam following the Senate’s approval.
As such, the lawmakers said the Committee should livestream the full bicameral meetings, including deliberations, while comprehensive bicameral meetings should be published.
They also seek the presentation of the detailed matrix of the differences between the House’s and the Senate’s proposed General Appropriations Bill (GAB), and how these differences were reconciled.
Furthermore, machine-readable copies of House GAB, Senate GAB, House and Senate committee reports, and bicam reports should be publicly available.
The lawmakers also noted that amendments, including the names of the members of the panel and their respective chambers who proposed these changes, should be disclosed.
Lastly, they said the media should be allowed to cover the entire bicam proceedings, and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) should have access and the opportunity to raise questions and comments during the bicam.
‘Kaban ng bayan ang pinag-uusapan. May pakialam ang lahat kung paano at saan nilalaan at ginagastos ang pera ng mamamayan. Sa tama, angkop at makabuluhang mga programa, proyekto at serbisyo ba ito napupunta? O sa mga bulsa ng mga tiwaling opisyal at kawani ng pamahalaan at ng kanilang mga kasabwat sa pribadong sektor?’ the joint statement read.
‘Kapakanan ng bayan at kinabukasan ng ating kabataan ang nakasalalay rito. Tiwala ng tao sa gobyerno ang mismong nakataya. It is a gross injustice to continue denying access of the public to the proceedings of the bicam, which constitutes a deprivation of the constitutionally guaranteed right of the Filipino people to information on matters of public concern. They are entitled to know where every centavo of their taxes goes,’ it added.
Earlier, lawmakers filed Joint Resolution No. 2 to institutionalize public access to bicam proceedings.
‘We hope that our colleagues in the House of Representatives and in the Senate recognize the urgency of implementing an open and transparent bicam,’ the solons said.