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Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian explains his vote during the senate deliberation on the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte, weighing constitutional precedents and procedural safeguards during Wednesday’s plenary session, August 6, 2025. Senate of the Philippines/ Screengrab

Article (news)

Sherwin Gatchalian

RG Cruz

ABS-CBN News

MANILA -- Voting 17-0-0, the Philippine Senate approved the P6.7 trillion 2026 national budget on third and final reading on Tuesday, with the final budget of corruption-hit Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) down by over P50 billion compared to the House version.&quot;One of the major amendments to the DPWH budget was the use of adjustment factors in the costing of infrastructure projects following the President&#x27;s directive to drive down the cost of construction materials,&quot;  Senate Finance Committee Chair Sherwin Gatchalian said.Gatchalian said the government&#x27;s drive to bring down the cost of construction materials resulted in savings of over P50 billion.&quot;As an added safeguard against ghost projects, all infrastructure projects must now have station numbers and specific coordinates,&quot; he said.Gatchalian said they also made upward adjustments to spending for education and health.He noted that the education sector&#x27;s budget remained at 4.5 percent of gross domestic product at P1.37 trillion, more than P91 billion higher than alloted in the House&#x27;s budget proposal. The senator noted that the budget for classroom construction went up to P65.9 billion. He added that the Department of Education&#x27;s school-based feeding program has a budget of P28.6 billion. He said  the budget for state universities and colleges (SUCs) stood at P139.04 billion to address issues about their carrying capacity, with at least 168,000 students unable to enroll because of the limited carrying capacity of SUCs.Meanwhile, the P1 billion allotted for the Local Government Support Fund will provide fourth and fifth-class municipalities with financial assistance. Gatchalian said specific projects included the conversion of more than 3,000 day care centers to child development centers and at least 150 plantilla positions for child development workers.Gatchalian also said there was P62.66 billion for zero-balance billing for Department of Health (DOH) hospitals.He announced more funds for specialty hospitals, including the Philippine Heart Center, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Children’s Medical Center, and Lung Center of the Philippines.Gatchalian added that the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund would receive a net increase of P14.82 billion for supporting the recovery of disaster-stricken areas. He said some of the support areas included shelter and resettlement, education and health services, rehabilitation of agriculture, and social protection.<div>RELATED VIDEOS:</div><div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-LzWiCZGM3w?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe> </div>

Voting 17-0-0, the Philippine Senate approved the P6.7 trillion 2026 national budget on third and final reading.

Voting 17-0-0, the Philippine Senate approved the P6.7 trillion 2026 national budget on third and final reading.

Senate approves P6.7-trillion national budget for 2026

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Senate approves P6.7-trillion national budget for 2026

RG Cruz,

ABS-CBN News

Published December 09, 2025 05:37 PM PHT

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Updated December 09, 2025 08:08 PM PHT

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2026 National budget

general appropriations act

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