House Committee on Appropriations Chair Nueva Ecija Representative Mikaela Angela Suansing said the House of Representatives delivered on its promise to make the 2026 national budget process open, transparent and participatory, introducing what she described as “sweeping reforms” while still passing the P6.793-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) on time.
In a press briefing, Suansing noted that the House had to work twice as hard to complete deliberations and pass the budget while simultaneously overhauling long-standing procedures that had been in place for decades.
The veteran legislator said the reforms reflect the House’s firm commitment, under the leadership of Speaker Bojie Dy, to ensure that the national budget is not only timely but also fully transparent and accessible to the public.
“Aming pangako sa ating mga kababayan na gagawin po nating bukas, gagawin po nating transparent, gagawin po nating participative ang budget process para sa taong 2026 at sa mga susunod na taon.”
“Ginawa po ‘yan ng inyong Kongreso dahil po sa aming pangako sa ating mga kababayan na gagawin po nating bukas, gagawin po nating transparent, gagawin po nating participative ang budget process para sa taong 2026 at sa mga susunod na taon,” the seasoned lawmaker explained.
She noted that the House abolished the long-standing small committee and replaced it with the Budget Amendments Review Subcommittee (BARSc), which conducted 20 hours of live-streamed deliberations on institutional amendments.
“We showed the public line by line where every peso of the amendments went — saan pong mga departamento, saan pong mga programa.”
Suansing pointed out that “all institutional amendments were deliberated on by the BARSc, and during all of those deliberations, we showed the public line by line where every peso of the amendments went — saan pong mga departamento, saan pong mga programa”.
All committee hearings, plenary deliberations, and BARSc deliberations were live streamed across Facebook and YouTube, allowing the public to monitor every stage of budget scrutiny.
The House also launched the first-ever People’s Budget Review, inviting accredited civil society organizations (CSOs) to participate in deliberations and field questions to government agencies.
“We conducted the first ever People’s Budget Review. [CSOs] were allowed to field questions to the agencies through the vice chairpersons of the Committee on Appropriations and their inputs were also incorporated in the budget,” she pointed out.
Many of these recommendations from CSOs—particularly on education (classrooms, special education programs), transportation and agriculture—were integrated into the final House version of the budget. Suansing said all amendments were completed before the second reading, complying strictly with constitutional requirements.
“Napakahalaga po nito dahil ito po ay constitutional requirement, at talaga pong sinundan natin ‘yung constitutional requirement na pagkatapos po ng approval on second reading wala na pong pinayagan na ibang amyenda na ipasok.” Suansing stressed.
She added that all House members were given full copies of both the second and third reading versions of the GAB before voting, which is another first in recent legislative history.
