Win Gatchalian, Senate finance committee chair, pushed an aggressive transparency drive as the chamber approved the proposed 2026 national budget on second reading.
He said all senators had already received electronic copies of the General Appropriations Bill summary and announced that the full line-by-line amendments with attachments would be released Saturday ahead of the vote on third reading.
Gatchalian said the Senate was cutting off the practice of hidden budget insertions created away from the plenary. He told colleagues that every amendment for the 2026 spending plan was introduced on the floor and placed on record. The shift followed months of backlash after the 2025 budget drew accusations of irregular allocations and triggered demands for strict public scrutiny.
Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano pressed Gatchalian on unprogrammed funds and warned that standby allocations had been abused in past budgets. He argued these funds should only be accessed when excess revenue is actually collected. After raising objections, Cayetano still described the Senate-approved version as a “good budget.”
The Senate version sets the 2026 national budget at P6.793 trillion. It assigns P1.38 trillion to the education sector, the largest allocation on record. Of that amount, P1.044 trillion is directed to the DepEd, a level backed by Education Secretary Sonny Angara and senators including Bam Aquino who said the increase will support classroom construction, learning materials, and student nutrition programs.
Gatchalian said the transparency rules this year close the door to off-record reallocations and force proponents to justify any amendment before the chamber and the public. The Senate is preparing for its third-reading vote once the full amendment list is released before the measure enters bicameral negotiations.
