THE Philippine Senate on Wednesday adopted a resolution that seeks to upload all budget documents in online platforms, amid public calls for transparency in the budget process.
Senators unanimously approved Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4, which mandates that all budget related documents should be available to the public online, after three days of debate.
The resolution mandates all documents, including all annexes and attachments of the General Appropriations Bill to be uploaded in the Senate and House website.
All transcripts of committee hearing, briefing, technical working group meetings should also be uploaded in the Senate and House’s websites.
It also orders the committees to produce and publish a matrix comparing the Senate and House versions of the budget bill, including how disagreements were resolved.
Congress should ensure that all budget deliberations, hearings, plenary discussions, bicameral conference committee meetings be available via live streaming.
The House and Senate should also make available platforms for the public to communicate their analyses, suggestions, and feedback on the national budget.
Meanwhile, a local chief executive also called on lawmakers to exercise transparency in the 2026 budget deliberations to avoid corruption and questionable insertions.
“We’re pressuring them to be very transparent about the bicam hearing,” Baguio City Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong told reporters on the sidelines of the Management Association of the Philippines’ (MAP) general membership meeting on Wednesday.
Next year’s budget is expected to face more scrutiny after the 2025 General Appropriations Act faced controversies surrounding alleged fund diversions, questionable allocations for public works projects, and blank line items.
The P6.793-trillion proposed spending plan for 2026 is 7.4% higher than last year’s budget, and equivalent to 22% of the country’s gross domestic product.
He also asserted that the small bicameral committee should not be convened because it lacked transparency.
Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Angela B. Suansing, who will be heading this year’s budget deliberations as the House appropriations panel chairman, said it will be abolishing the “small committee” to ensure a more transparent budget process.
The small committee, which is typically headed by a few elected lawmakers, was originally tasked to consolidate amendments of congressmen and senators on the budget.
During the MAP event, Mr. Magalong urged business leaders and top-level executives to demand accountability and good governance in public office.
“We’re asking the business sector to re-echo, to also demand, and declare support for the good governance and anti-corruption drive that we’re launching as a movement,” said Mr. Magalong.
“If the entire business sector, for example, the MAP, will make a declaration that says, ‘We want you to be transparent about how you formulate the 2026 budget,’ that would be a big deal,” he added.
Mr. Magalong recently said he’s willing to head an investigation on the government’s controversial flood control projects, noting that it must be conducted by an external body.
“I said I’m willing to take the lead, but that would depend on the decision of the President. Because the creation of an investigating body is important, it’s not possible for the investigating body to be Congress,” he told reporters.
Since the beginning of the Marcos administration, about P545 billion worth of flood control projects, but 6,021 of them — valued at P350 billion — lacked clear specifications, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. said on Monday. — Adrian H. Halili and Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
