Senate eyes

Unprogrammed funds

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Sotto said the Senate is still on track in its deliberation on the P6.793-trillion 2026 national budget, which was passed on second reading by the House of Representatives.

the departments and their secretaries to implement the infrastructure projects themselves, without the help of the graft-tainted DPWH.

Sotto said the Senate will not wait for the President to certify the budget bill as urgent, and the chamber will comply with the three-day rule between second and third reading passage of the bill.

The House is set to pass the budget bill on third reading on Monday, three days after the second reading approval. Sotto vowed that the Senate will make sure no “budget insertions” will happen in the national outlay for lawmakers’ pet projects during the closed-door bicameral meeting.

Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson is in favor of scrapping the P250-billion unprogrammed appropriations (UA) or funds in the P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026.