Sotto: Bicam for 2026 national budget moved to December 13, 2025

Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III on Thursday announced the bicameral conference committee meeting, which will reconcile the disagreeing provisions of the proposed 6.793-trillion national budget for 2026, will be moved to December 13.

Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives (HOR) are initially slated to convene on December 11 to December 13 after the upper chamber passed on third and final reading the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA), which contains the proposed budget for next year.

"We are constrained to move the bicam to Saturday because the technical staff of both the House and the Senate requested one more day to craft the details of the matrix and reconcile the conflicting provisions and amounts, given that budget documents this year are disaggregated and the technical descriptions are included per project," Sotto told reporters.

"We are making sure all details are exhibited and exposed for transparency so the HOR can examine our version and for us to examine theirs. This includes all annexes," he said.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairperson of the Senate Finance committee, confirmed the postponement. He also said the meeting will be held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).

"The technical staff of both The House and The Senate requested one more day to craft the details of the matrix and reconcile the conflicting provisions and amounts, given that budget documents this year are disaggregated and the technical descriptions are included per project," said Gatchalian.

"We will convene the bicam on Dec 13, Saturday, in PICC," he said.

Senators Gatchalian, Mark Villar, Pia Cayetano, JV Ejercito, Legarda, Kiko Pangilinan, Tulfo, Camille Villar, Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Christopher “Bong” Go, and Imee Marcos will represent the Senate to the bicam. Meanwhile, 11 House lawmakers were elected to represent the HOR.

Earlier, both the Senate and the House of Representatives said they will extend their sessions to December 23, Tuesday, to pass the final version of the 2026 national budget. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is expected to sign the budget measure on December 29. — BM, GMA Integrated News