MANILA, Philippines — To expand its budget transparency efforts this year, the Senate will push not only for continuous livestreaming of bicameral conference committee proceedings on the proposed 2027 national budget but also for transcripts of the discussions, Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson said Sunday.
Lacson said the transcripts would help lawmakers and the public identify who initiated amendments to the budget bill, and track who pushed for realignments of its items.
"In the bicam, the minutes of the proceedings should be recorded through a transcript. The budget bill is the only measure whose bicameral proceedings do not have a transcript, so we cannot trace who made what amendment. Now there should be a transcript because for the longest time, it had none," Lacson said in an interview on DZMM radio.
"There should be a transcript containing the minutes so it will be clear who initiated amendments and who pushed for realignments," he added.
Lacson said the Senate also plans to build on the transparency measures for the budget measure, aside from those it implemented in last year's proceedings for the 2026 budget.
These included identifying senators who proposed amendments to the budget bill, and posting the proceedings on the Senate's website for the public to see.
For this year's budget deliberations, Lacson said the Senate plans to invite budget advocacy groups like the People's Budget Coalition to the bicameral proceedings to better ensure transparency.
