THE House of Representatives and the Senate have begun talks to iron out rules for opening the joint congressional discussions on the proposed P6.793‑trillion national budget for 2026 to the public, in a bid to quell distrust in the budget process.

Lawmakers are expected to convene the bicameral conference committee (bicam) on the budget bill in the second week of December, Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Angela B. Suansing said. The Senate is expected to approve its version of the proposed spending plan next week.

This gives the Executive about three weeks to review the reconciled and ratified version of the budget, which President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. must sign before end-December. Otherwise, the current budget will be re‑enacted.

“We’re starting to coordinate, the Congress and the Senate, on the rules of the bicam,” Ms. Suansing, who heads the House Appropriations Committee, told reporters. 

Moves to open the bicam to the public form part of fresh reforms introduced by lawmakers amid a corruption scandal that has rocked the Philippines that has so far sapped business confidence, affected markets and stunted economic growth.

Ms. Suansing said there was no longer a need to approve a House resolution making the bicameral conference committee transparent, as lawmakers would already include it in the congressional body’s guidelines.

“I believe there’s no need for a resolution to… actualize that. It’s already there in the rules we’re building,” she said.

The Senate has passed a resolution in August to open joint congressional budget talks to the public, but the House has yet to adopt a counterpart proposal. Efforts to publicize the bicam have been supported by the House leadership, including Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III.

Ms. Suansing said the House also passed its version of the budget bill with “no insertions,” citing efforts to improve the budgeting process by publicizing efforts to amend the proposed spending plan, which was previously made by a group of select lawmakers behind closed doors.

The lower chamber had earlier slashed around P255 billion worth of funding originally intended for flood control works under the Public Works department, rechanneling the amount towards education, health and food sectors.

“There are no hidden things that were included,” she said. “I can vouch for it.”

Lawmakers are deliberating the 2026 spending plan against the backdrop of the multibillion-peso flood control controversy that has drawn closer-than-normal scrutiny amid calls to make the budget process more transparent. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio

A RESIGNED lawmaker at the center of a brewing political scandal that has hit the Marcos administration said the House of Representatives had no role in the 2025 national budget mess, stressing the chamber “faithfully adhered” to the executive’s spending plan.

In a letter addressed to President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., former Party-list Rep. Elizaldy S. Co said it was the Senate that derailed this year’s spending plan.

“None of our Senate counterparts adhered to Your Excellency’s campaign promise of food and health legacy and other basic concerns,” Mr. Co, who headed the House Appropriations committee, said in the letter, shared on his Facebook page on Wednesday.

This year’s P6.326‑trillion national budget has been hit with allegations of fund diversions, blank line items by the executive, and concerns over outsized public works allocations, prompting multiple lawsuits filed at the Supreme Court against the spending plan.

Mr. Co alleged it was then-Senate President (SP) Francis G. Escudero who called for P145 billion in reallocations to the Department Public Works and Highways (DPWH), threatening to delay the 2025 budget’s approval at the bicameral conference committee level until March 2025.

“I repeatedly warned SP Chiz of the Senate’s very large DPWH allocations because it would exceed education. But he doesn’t want to give way,” he said.

The Office of Mr. Escudero did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio

A PHILIPPINE lawmaker on Wednesday called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to consider the frail health of ex-President Rodrigo R. Duterte when it decides on his temporary release request.

In a statement, Party-list Rep. Roberto Gerard L. Nazal, Jr. said the tribunal’s appeals chamber should act with “humanitarian compassion” toward Mr. Duterte, whom he described as an “elderly detainee facing health challenges.”

“We are praying for a decision that balances justice with humanitarian compassion, and one that will help put closure on an issue that has divided our country,” he said.

Mr. Duterte, 80, was arrested by Philippine authorities and flown to The Hague, Netherlands in March for alleged crimes against humanity linked to his deadly drug war that has defined his six-year term.

His lawyer had since sought his interim release from the ICC’s detention center, wishing for his temporary freedom while the case is still ongoing. Tribunal hearings typically last years.

His appeals ruling is set for Nov. 28, Friday.

Police say 6,200 suspects were killed in anti-drug operations that often ended in shootouts, but rights groups estimate the toll of Mr. Duterte’s crackdown to be over 30,000, many of whom were slain under suspicious circumstances by masked men.

Mr. Nazal acknowledged that Filipinos await the tribunal to deliver long-hoped justice for the alleged killings perpetrated under Mr. Duterte’s rule but said that “justice is not vengeance.”

“Many still wait for justice. And we must never diminish that pain, nor forget the cost of silence,” he said. “However, we must also remember that justice is not vengeance, and that compassion is not weakness.”

Mr. Duterte, whose six‑year term empowered the police to act on drug claims, remains a divisive yet popular figure in the Southeast Asian nation, with supporters arguing his anti‑drug campaign was necessary to curb rising criminality. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio