The House of Representatives stays committed to livestream bicam meetings.

In the bicameral conference, different budget versions passed by the Senate and Congress will be reconciled. 

House Committee on Appropriations Chairperson, Nueva Ecija 1st District Rep. Mikaela Suansing mentioned that the House of Representatives is committed to publicizing the bicameral conference for the 2026 proposed budget. 

“The house has always been very firm on our commitment to opening the bicameral conference committee proceedings, more specifically livestreaming the bicam.” she said

This statement was made following the information disclosed by Sen. Erwin Tulfo that some House members are not in favor of livestreaming the conference.

Rep. Suansing mentioned the ongoing collaboration with her Senate counterpart regarding the livestreaming operations.

“Senator Win Gatchalian and I are already talking about how to operationalize the livestreaming of the bicam,” she added

Moreover, the civil society organization, Bantay Budget Network asks the Senate and the Congress to make public and fully disclose the following documents:

- All allocables and line-by-line amendments, and their proponents;

- All unprogrammed appropriations;

- All agency-level realignments and last-minute insertions;

- All reports, tables, and harmonized figures.

The organization calls to release all of them before the actual conference.

Bantay Budget Network also mentioned that transparency is not optional but a democratic obligation. Moreover, the organization also believes that secrecy leads to corruption, patronage, and abuse of power.

“Bantay Budget Network emphasizes that secrecy in the budget process breeds corruption, patronage, and abuse of power.” based on their issued statement.

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