Marcos to sign 2025 nat'l budget on Dec. 30

The P6.352-trillion national budget for 2025 is set for enactment on Dec. 30 after undergoing “rigorous” examination by President Marcos and key officials, who decided to maintain some of the cuts and insertions made at the last minute by lawmakers.

- By HELEN FLORES

The signing of the spending measure by Marcos will coincide with the country’s commemoration of Rizal Day, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Cesar Chavez said yesterday.

“Signing on 30 December 2024 after the Rizal Day program in Manila,” Chavez told Palace reporters.

Marcos deferred the signing of the proposed 2025 General Appropriations Act because of a number of issues, including the “insertions” without appropriate documentation and the P12-billion cut in the outlay of the Department of Education. The cut in the DepEd outlay goes against the administration’s policy direction, officials said earlier.

The spending bill – ratified by Congress on Dec. 11 – was supposed to be enacted on Dec. 20.

The deferment was meant to “allow more time for a rigorous and exhaustive review of a measure that will determine the course of the nation for the next year,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said in a statement last week.

Bersamin earlier said the President is likely to veto certain items in the proposed national budget “in the interest of public welfare” and “in compliance with laws.”

Marcos met with Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan and Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan at the Bahay Pangulo on Monday to review the spending bill. The President also met with the same officials at Malacañang on Dec. 18.