Senate adjusts calendar to ratify bicam report on 2026 budget

The Senate amended Monday its legislative calendar, moving the resumption of the plenary session on December 29, in time for the ratification of the proposed P6.793-trillion 2026 national budget.

This came after the House of Representatives earlier in the day also approved the motion to adjust its legislative calendar to ratify the ratification of the bicameral conference committee report.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri made the motion on the floor to extend the session from December 22 to December 29, and the adjournment of session from December 23 to December 30.

All other dates in the previously adopted calendar of session shall remain the same, he said.

The motion was approved by Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III with no objections coming from their colleagues.

“An additional time is required to complete the preparation and ratification of the conference committee report on the General Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2026,” Zubiri said.

“The ratification of the said conference committee report is imperative to ensure the continuity of government operations and the faithful implementation of the national budget for the ensuing fiscal year,” he added.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, echoed this, noting that the extension of the upper chamber's legislative calendar would allow time for the printing of the draft enrolled bill.

“Because our direction is to print the draft enrolled bill, share it with the bicam conferees, as well as the other senators and have the signing of the draft enrolled bill, together with the bicameral conference committee report on the 28th [of December], 10 a.m.,” Gatchalian said.

“So by that time, we will have all the documents in place and the documents will be shared with the senators and also the bicam conferees. And then after that, on the 29th, we will have our ratification. That is the direction we are taking,” he continued.

‘No blind ratification’

Sotto, meanwhile, emphasized that under his leadership, a “blind ratification” of the proposed budget will never be allowed.

He said that the extension of the session would also allow “a faithful reproduction of what the bicam approved.”

“Hindi tayo papayag na lang bilang pumirma sa bicameral conference committee report na hindi po nakikita pa ang ang enrolled copy. Kasi whether we like it or not, maybe in the past, maraming singit, ‘yung naapprove na sa bicam report napapalitan pa sa enrollment of bill na hindi dapat tama ‘yun,” Zubiri said.

(We will not agree to sign the bicameral conference committee report without seeing the enrolled copy. Because whether we like it or not, maybe in the past, there were many insertions, those that were approved in the bicam report were being changed during the enrollment of the bill, which was wrong.)

“So just to allow our colleagues to be able to study and make sure that the bicameral conference committee report is exactly as approved…walang singit, walang insertion (no insertions), Mr. President,” the majority leader added. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News