Finger-pointing over blank budget items continues

The executive branch cannot be held liable for the supposed blank items in the bicameral conference committee report of Congress on the then proposed 2025 national budget that critics want to question before the Supreme Court, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said yesterday.

- Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Jose Rodel Clapano

At a press conference, Bersamin said Malaca- Fang would not get in the way of those who would like to challenge the legality of the P6.326-trillion General Appropriations Act (GAA), particularly former president Rodrigo Duterte's ally, Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab.

“I cannot stop Congressman Ungab and those similarly minded people from putting up a challenge. Our problem with that is, we are not the ones responsible if there are lapses on that aspect because that is a bicam report,” Bersamin said after attending a budget forum at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

“We have nothing to do with the bicam report. All we are concerned about is the finished product which was signed by the President, not the blank check,” the executive secretary said.

A bicameral conference committee report reconciles the differences in the measure prepared separately by the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Ungab was questioning what he called the “discrepancies” in the bicameral conference committee report on this year’s budget, particularly the supposed blank amounts for items under the agriculture department and unprogrammed appropriations.

The lawmaker earlier said considering that the 2025 GAA had already been signed by the President, there is no other recourse for its critics than go to the high court.

Marcos signed the P6.326-trillion GAA for 2025 on Dec. 30 last year. This year’s budget was 9.7 percent higher than the previous year’s allocation. The President vetoed over P194 billion worth of projects, which he claimed are inconsistent with the administration’s priority programs.