MANILA, Philippines — The Senate is rewriting its usual work schedule to keep the proposed ₱7.2-trillion 2027 national budget moving, as Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial consumes a major portion of the chamber’s legislative calendar.
Senators on Wednesday, September 2, approved an arrangement allowing the Senate Committee on Finance and its subcommittees to conduct budget hearings at the same time as regular plenary sessions — an unusual but targeted exception designed to recover legislative hours lost to the impeachment proceedings.
Under the arrangement, the Senate is expected to convene as an impeachment court at 10 a.m. from Monday to Wednesday, before shifting to its regular legislative work later in the day.
Beginning at around 3 p.m., plenary deliberations can proceed inside the Senate session hall while separate Finance Committee budget hearings are held simultaneously in other Senate venues and, when necessary, rooms at the Philippine International Convention Center.
Senate Majority Leader Migz Zubiri said the parallel setup is intended to speed up legislative work without setting aside either of the Senate’s major responsibilities.
The change required the chamber to suspend its normal rule barring committee meetings while the Senate is holding a plenary session.
Senate President Win Gatchalian, however, made clear that the exemption is not a blanket authorization for every Senate committee.
It applies specifically to the Committee on Finance and its subcommittees for budget hearings.
From proposal to approved workaround
The move had been building for days.
On August 27, Gatchalian said senators were considering allowing Finance Committee hearings to run alongside plenary sessions because the Duterte impeachment trial was taking up roughly half of the chamber’s working day.
At the time, he warned that lawmakers were becoming concerned about whether Congress could finish work on the national budget before the end of 2026.
“We’re worried baka di umabot by end of the year. Ayaw natin magka-reenacted budget,” Gatchalian said, according to GMA News.
Finance Committee chair Sen. JV Ejercito raised the same scheduling problem this week, saying the existing calendar effectively left Thursdays and Fridays as the Senate’s main window for budget hearings.
The Philippine News Agency reported on September 1 that the simultaneous-hearing proposal was being considered specifically to keep scrutiny of the 2027 spending plan on schedule despite the impeachment proceedings.
A day later, the Senate formally approved the exception.
Why the ₱7.2-trillion budget matters
The proposed 2027 National Expenditure Program totals ₱7.2 trillion, equivalent to about 21.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
According to the Department of Budget and Management, the spending plan is ₱407 billion, or 6 percent, larger than the 2026 budget.
The government says the additional spending largely reflects mandatory obligations as well as investments in education, healthcare, infrastructure, food security, social protection, employment and disaster resilience.
The Development Budget Coordination Committee formally presented the proposal to the Senate on August 27, marking the start of the chamber’s detailed scrutiny of the Marcos administration’s final full-year spending plan.
That scrutiny now has to compete for time with one of the most politically consequential proceedings before the Senate: the impeachment trial of Vice President Duterte.
Impeachment trial could tighten the calendar even further
And the scheduling pressure may not end with the current Monday-to-Wednesday arrangement.
Impeachment court presiding officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Wednesday outlined a tentative schedule that could see the Senate hold whole-day impeachment proceedings on several dates in October, from morning until early evening.
Escudero said the proposal was still subject to confirmation.
Under the draft calendar, the trial could later pause to give way to Finance Committee budget hearings before proceedings resume in November.
That means the Senate is effectively attempting to run two enormously consequential processes on the same compressed calendar: determining the fate of a sitting vice president while examining trillions of pesos in government spending.
What happens if Congress runs out of time?
The concern over a “reenacted budget” is more than political rhetoric.
Under Article VI, Section 25(7) of the 1987 Constitution, if Congress fails to approve the General Appropriations Bill before the end of the fiscal year, the previous year’s appropriations law is automatically reenacted and remains in effect until a new budget is passed.
That is precisely the scenario Senate leaders say they want to avoid.
Allowing Finance Committee hearings and plenary sessions to run simultaneously gives lawmakers additional hours — but it also creates another challenge: senators must divide their attention among impeachment proceedings, budget scrutiny and ordinary legislation.
For now, the Senate has chosen speed through parallel proceedings.
Whether that will be enough to finish a ₱7.2-trillion budget on time while one of the country’s biggest impeachment trials continues may be the harder question.
WWC ONE MEDIA MJE
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