Manila, Dec. 24 -- Senate Committee on Finance chairperson Sherwin Gatchalian and Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said Wednesday the planned Jan. 5 signing of the proposed PHP6.793-trillion 2026 national budget is intended to give the Executive branch sufficient time to thoroughly review the voluminous enrolled budget documents.

"We acknowledge that submitting the budget to the Executive on December 29 is 2 days before the new year, and the Executive needs sufficient time to review the 4,000+ page enrolled copies of the budget. The prudent course of action is to move the signing to January 5 to ensure that every provision is thoroughly reviewed," Gatchalian said in a Viber message to reporters.

Gatchalian confirmed that foll...