Senate OKs proposed P6.793-trillion 2026 national budget on final reading

The Senate on Tuesday passed the bill outlining the P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026 on third and final reading.

With 17 affirmative votes, no negative votes and zero abstention, senators approved House Bill No. 4058 on final reading, a few days after it was passed on second reading on December 4.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chair of the Senate finance committee, said the proposed 2026 national budget is “more transparent, more disciplined, and more accountable than before.”

He explained that under the Senate version, the Department of Education (DepEd) remains the government agency with the highest budget with P1.37 trillion for next year.

Of this figure, P65.93 billion will be for the construction of over 24,000 new classrooms nationwide and P28.66 billion for the implementation of school-based feeding programs.

The proposed national budget next year will also strengthen the zero balance billing program of hospitals under the Department of Health (DOH), which will receive P62.66 billion in allocations.

Meanwhile, the Senate reduced the budget for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for 2026 to P570.48 billion from the P624.48 billion enclosed in the House version.

Gatchalian said the major amendments included the use of adjustment factors, following President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s directive to slash the costs of construction materials for government projects. He also said all infrastructure projects now have station numbers and specific coordinates as an added safeguard against ghost projects.

PhilHealth budget

Meanwhile, Senator Loren Legarda urged the bicameral conference committee to insert a special provision in the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA) restoring the P60 billion excess funds of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) following a Supreme Court (SC) ruling ordering its return.

“To ensure full compliance with the SC ruling, I urge the Bicameral Committee to insert a special provision amending the ?60 billion currently allocated for benefit package improvements to be restored in PhilHealth’s reserve fund – untagged from specific benefit items, treated as a return of reserves rather than a program expansion, and placed under the authority of the PhilHealth Board pursuant to the Universal Health Care Act – with this intent clearly stated in the bicameral report,” she said in the explanation of her vote.

“This amendment is necessary to uphold both the letter and spirit of the Supreme Court’s ruling. It avoids forcing further budget cuts on any other agency, protects the integrity of the national budget process, and ensures that PhilHealth can manage its funds and deploy its reserves sustainably based on actuarial principles,” Legarda said.

Senator Erwin Tulfo also raised questions if the P113 billion budget for PhilHealth contains the P60 billion reserve funds ordered to be returned to the state insurer.

Bicam

With the Senate approving the 2026 General Appropriations Bill, the bicameral conference committee will now resolve disagreeing provisions in their respective versions of the 2026 national budget.

The bicameral meetings between members of the Senate and the House of Representatives are slated to be held on December 11 to 13, while the signing of the 2026 GAA by Marcos Jr. is targeted on December 29.

In an interview with reporters, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said senators will insist on the livestream of the bicameral conference committee hearings amid alleged opposition from some congressmen.

“Hindi ako papayag nang hindi naka-livestream... Kanina kasama namin si Speaker Bojie wala naman siyang sinabi. Hindi kami papayag kasi ‘yun ang usapan namin nina President,” Sotto told reporters in an ambush interview.

(I will disagree if it will not be livestreamed. House Speaker Bojie [Dy] was with us earlier and he did not say anything. The President already said it will be livestreamed.)

“Walang kinalaman sa laman.Gusto namin kitang-kita ng publiko sino naglagay nang nagpasok niyan, ano ang budget sa tatlong pinakamahalaga – DepEd, DOH, Agriculture,” he said.

(Livestreaming has nothing to do with the contents of the budget. We want the public to witness who inserted the funding and how much was allocated to the three most important departments – DepEd, DOH, and Agriculture.)

Sotto said the livestreaming of the bicam committee hearing was not part of the agenda of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting earlier in the day but was already considered a standard operating procedure (SOP) following Marcos’ pronouncement in October.

“Matagal na namin napag-usapan na livestream,” he added.

(We talked about it a long time ago.)

The senators who would be members of the bicameral conference committee are: Senators Gatchalian, Mark Villar, Pia Cayetano, JV Ejercito, Legarda, Kiko Pangilinan, Tulfo, Camille Villar, Jinggoy Estrada. Bato dela Rosa, Bong Go, and Imee Marcos, according to a tweet of GMA Integrated News’ Nimfa Ravelo.

Senate panel sa BICAM on 2026 national budget

Gatchalian, chairperson

From majority bloc: Villar M, Cayetano Pia, Ejercito, Legarda, Pangilinan, Tulfo E, Villar C

From minority bloc: Estrada, Dela Rosa, Go, Marcos@dzbb

— Nimfa R. Ravelo (@nimfaravelo) December 9, 2025

Over the weekend, the Senate President said senators will not allow any last-minute insertions in the proposed 2026 national budget during the bicameral conference committee meetings next week.

Sotto III also assured that there are no “allocable” funds in the proposed national budget for discretionary use, except for items under “unprogrammed appropriations,” which depend on the availability of excess revenues.

It may be recalled that the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading its version of the proposed P6.793 trillion national budget for 2026 under HB 4058 on October 13.

Earlier, Sotto stood firm that the Senate will do everything to ensure that there will be no reenacted budget next year, and that the budget bill would be passed and signed by Marcos before the year ends.

This came after Malacañang urged lawmakers to hasten the passage of the 2026 national budget as Marcos does not want the government to run on a reenacted budget next year, according to Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro. — JMA, GMA Integrated News