Cutting the greed

It would be something to look forward to on how the 20th Congress would be able to go about the proposed 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA) bill.

- MARICHU A. VILLANUEVA

The proposed 2026 GAA bill will be coming out on the heels of the amendments and insertions into the present 2025 budget law, large chunks of which went into reported “ghost” flood control projects.

This after the Senate approved at plenary session yesterday the proposed P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026 on second, third and final reading. The proposed 2026 GAA bill got fast-track approval even without any certification as urgent from President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. (PBBM).

Incidentally, PBBM convened yesterday at Malacañang, the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC). Senate President Vicente Sotto III and House Speaker Faustino Dy III attended the LEDAC meeting before the Senate voted on the 2026 GAA bill.

Only 17 of the 24 senators present in plenary voted in favor of the 2026 GAA bill, others were either absent or arrived after the voting. Not present at the plenary session when the voting took place were Senate minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano and his sister Pia; siblings Mark and Camille Villar; Imee Marcos, JV Ejercito and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa. Senator Camille went on maternity leave after she gave birth to her second child. Senator JV is still indisposed and confined in hospital.

Dela Rosa remains “missing in action” since the reported issuance of a warrant of arrest against him from the International Criminal Court at The Hague. In the absence of Dela Rosa, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, as the chairman of the Senate finance committee, took over the subcommittees assigned to the “missing” senator. Dela Rosa was tasked to defend the respective budgets of the police and military establishments and its attached agencies.