Anyone can now view and examine the 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) through the House of Representatives website, according to Senator Win Gatchalian, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance.
In a statement, Gatchalian said the posting of the 2026 GAB on the House website complies with the provisions of Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4, which seeks to strengthen transparency and accountability in the budget process.
“I’m pleased to inform everyone that the GAB together with the annexes has been uploaded in the HoR website and the digital copy has been transmitted to the Senate,” said Gatchalian.
He noted that this marks the first time the GAB has been made available in digital format, allowing citizens to freely review the proposed national budget.
“In previous practice, only one copy of the four (4) volumes of the GAB is sent to the Senate and senators are expected to share in perusing the document,” he explained. “Now, we already have a digital copy of the GAB. We will send each senator a digital copy in a USB tomorrow.”
The Senate earlier approved Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4, which aims to improve the budget process by enforcing strict transparency and accountability measures to protect public funds and ensure efficient and priority-based spending.
Gatchalian vowed that under his leadership, the Senate Finance Committee will uphold what he calls a “golden age of transparency and accountability.”
“As Finance Committee chairman, I will not allow any insertion in the budget. I will also make sure that we will be very strict when it comes to confidential funds,” he said.
He further emphasized that modern technological innovations now make it possible to create centralized, accessible, and searchable platforms for budget data—fully aligned with the principles of open government and digital governance.