Lacson wants bicam budget talks open to public for transparency

MANILA, Philippines — Former Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson has suggested that Congress make the bicameral conference committee meetings on the proposed 2025 national budget accessible to the media and the public for the sake of transparency.

Lacson, along with incumbent Senator Imee Marcos, was asked during the Pandesal Forum in Quezon City if they have seen the 2025 budget, as both have aired grievances about past appropriations.  In response, Lacson said he has not seen the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for 2025, and Marcos claimed many projects are unfunded because they were placed under unprogrammed funds.

When asked further if the Senate was being overpowered in the bicam meetings, Marcos said that what she observed was the bicam discussions being relegated to photo opportunities.

“The latest news is — sorry Senator Ping — the latest trend is that bicam meetings are mere picture-taking only.  We only do selfies, that’s because only a few talk about the budget and we would not allow that, we have been tricked several times already,” she said.

Lacson meanwhile said he had already proposed to make the bicam meetings accessible to the media, especially when a small group is created, as these meetings are often relegated to the chairpersons of the House of Representatives committee on appropriations and the Senate’s committee on finance.

During the bicam meetings, representatives from both the House and the Senate would resolve differences in their respective versions of the budget bill.  However, bicameral meetings are traditionally held behind closed doors, with media only being allowed access at certain points during the discussions.

“I remember before, I filed a resolution there to make the bicameral conference transparent, because you know what happens there is that the bicam is the third chamber.  Not only that, it is the most powerful chamber, because there are no transcripts, minutes of the meeting.  The problem is after the meeting is opened, a small group is created,” he said.

“When you say small group bicam, it’s just two people […] so only the two of them talk, and sometimes, when the bicam meets again, when the bicameral conference resumes, the document is already prepared for signing.  If you wouldn’t sign, you would be an antagonist, because more likely the budget would be reenacted.  But that’s a thick document, you would not have the time to read it,” he added.

Lacson also recalled an incident when the executive branch under former President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed over P90 billion of the P3.7 trillion budget for 2019 as they were amendments that were inserted after the House and Senate already ratified the bicam report on the GAB for that year.

“I remember, it was also during our time that after the bicam report was ratified by both the House and the Senate, when it was already an enrolled bill, it was amended; there was a P75 billion inserted into different provisions,” he said.

“We discovered that, and I told Senate President Tito Sotto, I told him that this is wrong, so what happened is that the Senate president qualified that what he signed […] was only what was ratified by both Houses,” he added.

Lacson, who is seeking reelection in 2025, was referring to the reenacted budget in 2019 that was approved in April of that year.

READ: Budget rift proves House indiscretions – Lacson

Meanwhile, Marcos was asked if there was still time to implement Lacson’s suggestions.  In response, she said transparency at bicam meetings was one of the factors in the leadership change last May 20.

“That was a big part of our talks about the change in the Senate leadership because many lost appetite with what was happening.  And in my opinion, the new leadership has a promise that what happened before won’t happen again,” she noted.

Marcos was one of the senators who said last February that they were not aware that a P26.7 billion Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) was inserted in the proposed 2024 budget as a line item.

However, Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. clarified that the Senate approved the funding for AKAP, noting that Marcos herself signed the page where provisions for the said project were located in the bicam report.

This was not the first time suggestions were made for the bicam meetings to be accessible to the public.  Last December 2023, former Bayan Muna lawmaker Neri Colmenares asked both the Senate and the House to make the bicameral committee discussions on the proposed P5.7 trillion 2024 national budget accessible to the public.

Colmenares said the bicameral conference on the 2024 General Appropriations Bill was important since congressional insertions usually happen during this process and added that bicam staffers can livestream or hold the meetings in an accessible venue.