'Blank items' in 2025 budget brought to SC

Nearly a month after its enactment, the 2025 national budget may again come under scrutiny—this time by the Supreme Court, which is being asked to declare the outlay unconstitutional.

- By DAPHNE GALVEZ

Davao City 3rd District Rep. Isidro Ungab and former executive secretary Vic Rodriguez have filed before the Supreme Court (SC) a petition for certiorari and prohibition against the 2025 General Appropriations Act.

The GAA violated Article VI, Section 27 of the 1987 Constitution when members of the bicameral conference committee left blanks in its report on budget allocations for the National Irrigation Administration, Department of Agriculture and the Philippine Coconut Authority, the petitioners said.

These blanks, they said, were "very dubious and dangerous as the budgets for the said offices and programs remain undetermined."

"Clearly, the Bicameral Conference Committee committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess jurisdiction when it signed the committee report on 2025 National Budget filled with blanks," the petitioners stated.

They also claimed the 2025 budget law violated the Constitution for not giving the education sector the highest budget allocation.

Sought for comment, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said in a text message that it is premature to react to the legal challenge, and stressed it’s the Office of the Solicitor General that will issue a statement on the matter.

In their petition, Rodriguez and Ungab said the 2025 GAA only “gave the impression” that the education sector got the lion’s share of the budget as the figures were “merely bloated” by the inclusion of noneducation-related agencies.

It said budget appropriations for the Philippine Military Academy, Philippine National Police Academy, National Defense College of the Philippines, which are under the Department of National Defense and were historically classified under the defense sector, “were lumped with the appropriations for the education sector.”