The Senate majority on Thursday said the 2026 General Appropriations Act has set a “new normal” for transparency by opening the entire budget process to public scrutiny, from committee hearings to plenary debates and bicameral conference committee deliberations.

“This is the new normal we are building in the Senate: a budget process that people can watch, read and verify in real time,” the Senate majority said in a statement, citing the livestreamed and archived proceedings that allowed the public to track how budget proposals were shaped into final allocations.

The majority said the bicameral conference committee adjourned at 2:22 a.m. after days of marathon talks, stressing that transparency was treated as policy rather than rhetoric.

It said there were no midnight deals, no last-minute insertions done in the dark, and no amendments that escaped public scrutiny, with all adjustments discussed on record and supported by complete documentation.

The Senate majority said the open process strengthened fiscal discipline, particularly in the review of major spending agencies such as the Department of Public Works and Highways, where lawmakers opted for line-by-line scrutiny and rejected across-the-board restorations without itemized recomputation to eliminate overpricing.

The bloc said it would sustain livestreamed bicameral proceedings and public access to budget documents in future budget cycles, stressing that “a budget made in daylight is stronger” and builds public confidence in both the numbers and the process.

The bicameral conference committee approved the PHP6.793-trillion 2026 General Appropriations Act, with education receiving PHP1.38 trillion or about 20 percent of the national budget, while the Department of Public Works and Highways was allocated PHP529.6 billion after CMPD-based (Construction Materials Price Data) adjustments that generated PHP20.7 billion in savings, realigned to PhilHealth (PHP16.5 billion) and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (PHP4.25 billion).

The Senate majority is composed of Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, Majority Leader Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri, and Senators Bam Aquino, Pia Cayetano, JV Ejercito, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Lito Lapid, Loren Legarda, Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Erwin Tulfo, Raffy Tulfo, Camille Villar and Mark Villar. (PNA)