Legarda secures swift Senate approval for cultural agencies’ 2026 funding

Senator Loren Legarda, Vice Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance, secured committee endorsement for the 2026 budgets of the country’s cultural institutions during the plenary deliberations of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

Presenting the allocations for agencies at the forefront of heritage, cultural preservation, and the creative economy, Legarda said, “Karangalan ko pong i-sponsor ang panukalang badyet para sa taong 2026 ng ating mga pangunahing ahensyang pangkultura. Hindi luho ang kultura—ito ang kaluluwa ng ating sambayanan.”

As the Chair of the Committee on Culture and the Arts and principal author of the National Cultural Heritage Act, Legarda emphasized the statutory role of cultural agencies in safeguarding our nation’s identity and history. She detailed how their budgets sustain language preservation, education, and arts infrastructure, supporting national development and progress. Legarda urged her colleagues to act decisively, saying that support for these allocations is essential to the integrity of cultural policy and responsible governance.

For fiscal year 2026, she recommended the approval of the proposed budgets for major cultural agencies, including the National Commission for Culture and the Arts Proper, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, the National Library of the Philippines, the National Archives of the Philippines, the Commission on the Filipino Language, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Due to Legarda’s effective leadership, the plenary submitted the budget without objection for cultural agencies.

During the deliberations, the budget of the Commission on the Filipino Language was immediately deemed submitted.

“Mr. President, I’m disappointed that nobody is interested to ask me about languages because there are 135 languages in the Philippines. But if nobody wants to ask me, then I can probably just deliver a privilege speech someday, one day soon. Because it’s very interesting to talk about 135 Philippine languages,” Legarda remarked.

“Well, the way I take it, Your Honor, is that you handled it perfectly during the hearing of the committee. That’s why they no longer need to understand anything. Because you were able to explain it well during that time,” Senate President Vicente Sotto III responded.

Senator Robinhood Padilla also expressed his full support, stating, “Ang kultura po at ang ating wika, ‘yan po ang ugat ng ating pagka-Pilipino. Kaya’t ako po, kasama po ang lupon ng mga ka-Musliman at mga katutubo. Kami po’y napapasalamat sa inyo, Senadora Loren Legarda, at sa inyo pong hawak na ahensya, sapagkat kayo po ang tagapagtanggol nila. At kayo po ang tumatayong heroine. Kaya maraming salamat po. Muli, ako po’y nakasuporta sa inyo. Mabuhay po kayo.”

Legarda closed her sponsorship with a firm appeal: “Ang pamumuhunan sa kultura ay pamumuhunan sa pambansang identidad, pagkamalikhain, at kinabukasan ng ating mga kababayan.” (30)