Transparency vowed in budget scrutiny

House to carry out review as administration ally

- By ELLSON QUISMORIO

Speaker Martin Romualdez told the executive branch on Monday, Aug. 18, that the House of Representatives will carry out its review of the P6.793-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) as an ally and not as an adversary.

“To our partners in the Executive Branch, allow me to be clear: we will scrutinize, we will question, we will deliberate thoroughly. But we will do so not as adversaries, but as allies united by a shared purpose,” Romualdez said in his welcome speech to members of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).

“For at the end of the day, at the heart of our collaboration lies a common goal: to deliver a better, more dignified life for every Filipino family.”

The DBCC—composed of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPD), Department of Finance (DOF), and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)—was the first body to hold a briefing with the Committee on Appropriations chaired by Nueva Ecija 1st District Rep. Mikaela Angela Suansing.

The appropriations committee is the panel tasked with perusing the NEP, which is the basis of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) or proposed national budget.

The 2026 NEP worth P6.793 trillion is 7.4 percent higher than the enacted 2025 national budget of P6.326 trillion budget.