Gatchalian sees lower 2026 budget than NEP 

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said Tuesday that the Senate might pass a budget for fiscal year 2026 that is lower than the proposed P6.793 trillion under the President’s National Expenditure Program (NEP). 

Gatchalian said this as the Senate Committee on Finance, which he heads, ended its deliberations on the 2026 national budget. 

“Possible ‘yun. So dahil nga maraming nakikitang pwedeng itipid, possible na mas mababa ‘to sa NEP,” the senator said in an ambush interview.

(That's possible because we saw a lot that can be saved. It's possible that this budget will be lower than the NEP.) 

“That’s allowed pero sayang ‘yung pondo kasi kapag hindi mo ginamit ‘yun, imbes na pwede mong ilipat sa let’s say, mas maraming scholars o mas maraming gamot, sayang. Pero possible,” he added. 

(That's allowed, but it's a waste of funds because if you don't use it, it can’t be transferred to fund more scholars or more medicine, for example. But it's possible.) 

With a lower national budget, Gatchalian said that the budget deficit will also decline.

“Good ‘yan. Ibig sabihin, hindi tayo uutang. So dahil malaki ang uutangin natin this year, about almost P2 trillion plus. So bababa ‘yung pag-uutang natin kasi bababa yung deficit natin,” he explained. 

(That's good. That means we will not have to borrow so much. We plan to borrow a lot this year, almost P2 trillion plus. So our debt will decrease because our deficit will decrease as well.) 

The finance committee on Tuesday conducted a public hearing with civil society organizations to discuss transparency and accountability measures to strengthen the national budget process, as well as the budgetary priorities for the 2026 General Appropriations Act.

Now that the budget hearings at the committee-level have ended, Gatchalian said that they will conduct technical working group (TWG) meetings before the budget sponsorship on November 12, and the plenary debates on November 13. 

The Senate will resume its session on November 10, after a month-long break.

“Yes, so tapos na ‘yung budget deliberations. Titingnan na namin ‘yung mga proposals ng mga agencies, titignan rin namin ‘yung sarili naming mga proposals. May mga proposals kami to cut some of the agencies’ budget, lalo na ‘yung mga GOCCs na meron silang sariling pondo,” Gatchalian said. 

(Yes, the budget deliberations at the committee level are over. We will now look at the proposals of the agencies, and our own proposals. We have proposals to cut some of the agencies' budget, especially the GOCCs that have their own funds.) 

“Tinitignan rin namin ang DPWH budget na pwedeng i-cut. And then babangga namin ‘yun sa mga requests,” he added. 

(We are also looking at possibly cutting the DPWH budget. And then we will check that with the requests sent to us.) —LDF, GMA Integrated News