Despite delays, Suansing still optimistic PH can avoid reenacted budget

MANILA, Philippines — Despite the bicameral conference committee on the proposed 2026 national budget hitting delays due to issues in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) allocations, Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Suansing believes the country can still avoid a reenacted budget.

Suansing, in an interview before the postponed bicam meeting on Monday, said that she is confident that the 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) will be approved on time, or before 2025 ends.

READ: Deadlock on DPWH budget cuts forces Senate to postpone bicam meeting

Under Article VI, Section 25 of the 1987 Constitution, the country will have a reenacted budget, or will use the budget of a previous year, if “by the end of any fiscal year, the Congress shall have failed to pass the general appropriations bill for the ensuing fiscal year.”

“Yes, I’m still very confident. I always say that, as much as possible, we want to make sure we don’t have a reenacted budget. So we will work doubly hard between now and December 22,” Suansing said, referring to the extended last session day of the 20th Congress for fiscal year 2025.

“If need be, we may need to push a little bit, but the goal is for it not to cross into the next calendar year. We do not want a reenacted budget, hopefully, that is what we are looking at; we don’t want it to come to that,” she added.

According to Suansing, who chairs the House committee on appropriations, this is the reason why the House contingent wanted to push through with the bicam meeting on Monday, which did not push through because of the Senate’s request.

“There is a timeline that we want to follow. I hope they can see that we have adjusted the calendar of session already, and this means that by December 22 both chambers should have ratified our bicam report,” Suansing said.

“That is what we are going after, and this is the reason why we wanted to push with the discussions regarding the items in the budget. There are several agencies that we have to discuss, that’s why each day to discuss the budget is important, so we can finish this,” she added.

The third day of the bicam discussions was scheduled on Monday afternoon, after hours-long, grueling discussions on how to address the Senate’s allegedly wrong computation of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget cuts for 2026, which affected 10,000 projects.

Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon, during the bicam discussions on Sunday, said that several projects that got funding reductions were under the Senate’s watch. However, Dizon said this resulted in two different scenarios—one where projects were underfunded and another where more funds could have been trimmed from the allocation.

The DPWH chief said there was a wrong application of the adjustment factor that they gave to the Senate, as seen in two asphalt overlay projects: one in Region IV-B or Mimaropa and another in Central Visayas or Region VII.

Dizon said he understands that the Senate cut the Region IV-B asphalt overlay project by 68 percent—from P41.15 million to P12.96 million—due to him, providing a negative 68 percent adjustment factor for the cost of materials.

However, Dizon noted that the adjustment should have been applied to the cost of materials only, and not the entire estimated expenses for the project. If this was considered, Dizon said the proper way would have been to cut project allocation from P41.15 million to P31.53 million, and not P12.96 million.

READ: Dizon to Senate: Lower material cost rate can’t be applied wholesale

To address the issue, Dizon suggested that the bicam adopt the version of the DPWH budget contained in the House’s GAB, while also letting the DPWH implement on its own the cost reduction on materials.

However, the Secretary was reminded by senators that it is he whom they trust—and not district officers of the DPWH.

Several senators explained to Dizon that it would not be easy to put back the DPWH funds they had removed, especially since it was borne out of Dizon’s own revelations that items were overpriced.

In the end, Dizon conceded that he is leaving it up to the wisdom of the bicam to decide whether it would be Congress who would make the cut, or DPWH. Also, the Secretary admitted that it would be a hard decision to make, as the people do not trust DPWH.

Despite the lengthy discussions, the second day of the bicam meeting ended without a clear resolution on how the issue would be addressed. The matter was supposed to be resolved on Monday, but Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, in an earlier press briefing, said that the Senate side, after a caucus, decided to call for the postponement of the bicam. /cb