MANILA — The House of Representatives on Monday approved on third and final reading House Bill (HB) No. 10800, which proposes a ₱6.793-trillion national budget for 2026.

During the plenary session, 287 lawmakers voted in favor, 12 voted against, and two abstained from the passage of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

The approval came three days after the measure hurdled second reading on October 10, when lawmakers adopted amendments cutting the Office of the Vice President’s ₱902.8-million budget by ₱156 million, while rejecting proposals to remove the ₱250-billion unprogrammed appropriations (UA).

House appropriations chair Rep. Mikaela Suansing of Nueva Ecija said the appropriations subcommittee had already removed ₱35 billion worth of infrastructure projects from the UA, stressing that the government could not afford to eliminate contingency funding for foreign-assisted projects.

Before the final vote, the Makabayan bloc opposed the measure, calling it a “brazen continuation of the corrupt pork barrel system” and alleging that billions of pesos had been funneled into flood control projects since 2022.

The bloc claimed there were ₱695.78 billion in so-called ‘pork’ allocations, including ₱243 billion in UA and ₱10.9 billion in confidential and intelligence funds.

The approved measure will now be transmitted to the Senate, which is conducting parallel deliberations on the proposed 2026 national budget.