Senate Deputy Minority Leader Rodante Marcoleta pushed back against Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III’s claim that the 2026 national budget signed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. was the “cleanest” ever.
Marcoleta explained that he voted ‘no’ on the bicameral conference committee report of House Bill No. 4058, or the General Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2026, because senators failed to deliver on their promise to scrutinize the budget thoroughly.
“Ako, hindi ako masyadong bilib sa pagiging malinis ng nagawang budget. Kaya ako bumoto ng ‘no’ sapagkat may nakita ako na hindi rin napanagutan yung sinasabi ng marami kong kasama na talagang ‘susuklayin’ namin yan, [na] gagamit kami ng isang suklay na masinsin ang ngipin,” Marcoleta said in a television program.
Sotto earlier praised the budget as the cleanest, noting that Marcos further “cleaned” it by vetoing several items under the Unprogrammed Appropriations.
But Marcoleta insisted he would have been more convinced if the bicameral committee had combed through the budget more rigorously.
“Kapag suyod, masinsin. Kapag ikaw gumamit ng suyod, ang ibig sabihin noon… kahit maliliit aalisin mo dahil nakakasagabal, nakakainis, nakakairita, hindi maganda…” he said.
He added that senators had promised to conduct such a detailed review, but failed to follow through.
“Yan ang dapat. Eh ang mga kasama ko mayroong nagbanta talaga. Gusto ko naman yun, at ako napaniwala nila ako kasi kasama naman ako noong habang pinoporma namin, pagkagaling sa House of Representatives, ang tawag sa dokumento HGAB, House of Representatives General Appropriations Bill. So pupunta sa amin, yun ang hihimayin, yun ang susuyurin, yun ang gagamitan ng suyod,” Marcoleta said.