GAB should be posted on House website for transparency — Gatchalian

The General Appropriations Bill (GAB) should be posted on the website of the House of Representatives to allow the public to keep track of the country’s annual budget, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said Sunday.

Gatchalian made the remark after he was asked if he is in favor of opening the bicameral budget deliberations to the public.

“Dadagdagan ko pa yan. Kung ako, pati 'yung GAB, dapat i-post sa website. Sa ngayon, hindi ‘yan kaya bulag ang taumbayan kung ano ang isinusumite ng Kamara sa Senado,” Gatchalian told Super Radyo dzBB.

(I would add to that. In my opinion, I think the General Appropriations Bill should be posted on the website. Right now, it’s not, which means the public is blind to what the House is submitting to the Senate.)

“Kung ako, dapat ipost yan ng House of Representatives sa website (if it were up to me, the House should post the GAB on its website),” he added.

The senator added the Senate’s committee report and GAB’s third reading version should also be posted online.

“Para makita natin yung takbo at para nasusundan ng taong bayan kung ano yung napapalitan, ano yung nadadagdag at ano yung final version ng GAA (General Appropriations Act),” the solon said.

(So that we can see the progress, and so that the public can follow the changes and the final version of the GAA.)

Earlier this week, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the proposed P6.793 trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for Fiscal Year 2026.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the DBM had to trim down requests for budget proposals that reached P10.101 trillion due to limited fiscal space and the fiscal consolidation strategy, which targets gradually reducing the national government’s deficit from 5.5% of GDP in 2025 to 4.3% by 2028. —  RF, GMA Integrated News