Manila, Dec. 17 -- Lawmakers are targeting the completion of bicameral conference committee deliberations on the proposed 2026 national budget by Wednesday, as both chambers move to finalize computations and transmit the measure to Malacanang ahead of the New Year.

After concluding the third day of the conference on Tuesday, Senate Committee on Finance chairperson Sherwin Gatchalian said the next phase of the bicam process would focus on consolidating the budget "physically and computation-wise."

"Target namin tomorrow matatapos na hopefully, kasi ang next ng bicam is putting the budget together physically and also computation wise (We are targeting to finish tomorrow, hopefully, because the next step of the bicam is putting the budget ...