MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will have time to scrutinize the bicameral conference committee report on the proposed 2026 national budget even if it is ratified near yearend, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

Acting Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Dave Gomez said the president “will be spending the holidays working” and has already mobilized his team to begin reviewing the budget while bicameral deliberations are ongoing.

“As early as now, the President is already mobilizing his team to facilitate the immediate review of all amounts and corresponding provisions agreed in the bicam and trace the changes made from the originally submitted National Expenditure Program (NEP),” Gomez said in a message to reporters.

Gomez said the review will ensure that “taxpayers’ money will be put to good use,” adding that the president intends to conduct a “thorough review” of the proposed spending measure.

The House of Representatives and the Senate earlier agreed to extend their legislative calendar to give the bicameral conference committee enough time to finalize and sign the report on Dec. 28.

Once signed, copies of the bicam report will be distributed to members of Congress for review, Appropriations Committee chair Mikaela Suansing said. Congress is expected to vote on the ratification of the 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) on Dec. 29, when sessions resume.

Under the revised calendar, Malacañang will have until Dec. 30 and Dec. 31 to sign the P6.793-trillion 2026 national budget into law before a reenacted budget takes effect.

In 2024, the 2025 national budget was ratified within hours of the bicam report’s signing, raising questions over blank line items in the measure. Former Rep. Stella Quimbo later said these were technical errors that were ministerial in nature.

While the executive branch does not participate in legislative budget deliberations, the bicameral conference committee proceedings for the 2026 budget were livestreamed — a first in the national budget process — allowing both the public and the executive branch to see the specific changes made to agency budgets.

Among the revisions were billions of pesos realigned from the Department of Public Works and Highways’ proposed flood control projects to priority sectors such as education, health, and agriculture, as well as further reductions after the Senate recalculated infrastructure material costs.

The bicameral committee also restored P243 billion in unprogrammed appropriations and increased funding for cash assistance programs such as the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) and the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP), reversing earlier cuts approved by both chambers.

Gomez said the president’s review is aimed at ensuring accountability amid ongoing corruption allegations linked to anomalous flood control projects and budget insertions.

Malacañang has reiterated that President Marcos is intent on having the 2026 budget enacted and does not want the government to operate under a reenacted budget.