Senate panel defers PAO's proposed 2026 budget

The Senate Committee on Finance on Tuesday deferred the deliberations on the proposed P6.41-billion budget of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) for fiscal year 2026 after PAO chief Persida Acosta failed to attend the hearing.

Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate finance committee, decided on the matter during the panel’s deliberations into the proposed P43.65-billion budget of the DOJ and its attached agencies for next year.

The senator said that he received a letter from Acosta informing him of her absence in the budget deliberations due to an official travel or activity outside the country.

“As a matter of procedure and tradition, we always require the head of office to present their budget. This has been the practice for many, many years and for many budget briefings. In fact, a lot of heads of offices of different agencies had to cancel their trips in order to present their budget personally,” Gatchalian said.

“This is a requirement that is very strictly observed here in the Senate. So with that, we will defer the budget of the Public Attorney’s Office today,” he added.

Gatchalian said that the Senate committee on finance will request a new date from PAO to enable Acosta to personally come to the Senate to present her office’s proposed budget.

DOJ Assistant Secretary Maria Elisa Germar said that of the P43.65 billion proposed budget of the DOJ, P6.41 billion was allocated to PAO, which was 18.25% higher than its P5.42 billion budget under the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA). — Giselle Ombay/RSJ, GMA Integrated News