Manila: House of Representatives Deputy Minority Leader, Mamamayang Liberal Party-list Rep. Leila De Lima, and fellow Liberal Party (LP) lawmakers have issued a call for a transparent and open bicameral conference committee. The lawmakers emphasized the importance of such transparency in implementing genuine budget reform and in restoring public trust.
According to Philippines News Agency, the House LP bloc has insisted that all bicam meetings, including deliberations, should be livestreamed. The call for transparency is rooted in past concerns over corruption and the secretive nature of the Bicameral Conference Committee, where controversial budget insertions have allegedly been made. The LP bloc considers an open bicam process as non-negotiable and long overdue.
The joint statement, signed by other LP members including Reps. Edgar Erice, Adrian Michael Amatong, Arlene ‘Kaka’ Bag-ao, Jaime Fresnedi, Cielo Krisel Lagman, and Alfonso Umali Jr., outlines additional transparency measures. These include the publication of comprehensive bicam meeting minutes, a detailed matrix of differences between the House and Senate’s proposed General Appropriations Bill, and public availability of machine-readable copies of related documents.
The call for transparency extends further, requiring the disclosure of amendments and the names of panel members who proposed them. It also demands media coverage of the entire bicam proceedings and access for civil society organizations to participate and pose questions during the bicam.
The urgency of these measures comes as the House has already passed the proposed PHP6.793 trillion national budget for 2026 on its third and final reading, while the Senate’s plenary budget deliberations are ongoing. The next step in the process will be the bicameral conference committee, where the LP bloc seeks to ensure transparency and public access.
The joint statement concluded by emphasizing the importance of public access to bicam proceedings, framing it as a constitutional right of the Filipino people to information on public matters, especially concerning the allocation of their taxes.
