It’s an election budget

In utter dismay over how badly distorted the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) came out, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) wants to redo it. Separately ratified by both chambers of the 19th Congress, the President minced no words in asserting the P6.352-trillion budget for next year – as submitted by the Executive branch – has been mangled by “insertions” and re-alignments.

It was after the bicameral conference committee (bicam) practically rewrote the 2025 GAA after it was respectively approved at the Senate and at the House of Representatives. Dubbed as the “third Congress,” the bicam is constituted to reconcile the differing versions of two same legislative bills approved separately in both chambers. The bicam is composed of an equal number of senators and those from the House of Representatives as panel members.

The designated chairperson for each panel for the 2025 GAA bill was Senator Grace Poe, as the chairperson of the Senate finance committee, and her counterpart Ako Bicol party list Rep. Elizaldy Co, who chairs the House committee on appropriations.

The 12-man Senate panel was composed of Senate pro tempore Jinggoy Estrada; Senate majority leader Francis Tolentino; Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III; Senate assistant minority leader Risa Hontiveros; Senators JV Ejercito, Sherwin Gatchalian, Imee Marcos, Ronald Bato dela Rosa, Joel Villanueva, Cynthia Villar, Mark Villar and Miguel Zubiri.

On the part of the House, the bicam members were Pampanga 3rd District Rep. (Deputy Speaker) Aurelio Dong Gonzales; Quezon 2nd District Rep. and Deputy Speaker David Jayjay Suarez; Zamboanga City 2nd District Rep. and Majority Leader Manuel Manix Dalipe; Tingog party-list Rep. and Deputy Majority Leader Jude Acidre; Eastern Samar 4th District Rep. and Minority floor leader Marcelino Libanan; Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo; Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales; Agusan del Norte 1st District Rep Jose Joboy Aquino; Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Raul Anglo Jil Bongalon; Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop; Romblon Rep. Eleandro Madrona and Rizal 1st District Rep. Michael Duavit.

Last Nov. 28, the “third Congress” began meeting behind closed doors as usual. For almost two weeks, the bicam closeted themselves, along with their respective legislative staff, in a suite at the Manila Hotel.

Senate President Francis Escudero and Speaker Martin Romualdez later joined them at the signing of the consolidated version of the 2025 GAA held last Dec. 11 at the same venue. It was immediately sent back to the Senate and the House for one final look at their respective plenary sessions. And on the same day, both chambers of the 19th Congress ratified the 2025 budget in marathon sessions.

The lawmakers were only too happy to meet the self-imposed deadline for the submission of next year’s budget before they adjourned for their Christmas break last week. But at the end of the process, it was discovered the bicam obviously went overboard and unilaterally reshaped the President’s budget priorities for next year.

Alas, the final 2025 GAA bill as churned out by the bicam included last-minute changes in the budget program.

Drastic changes in allocations were found in the voluminous copy of the 2025 GAA as transmitted to Malacañang for review and eventual signing by the President before it becomes law. From the initial looks of it, the bicam nearly got away with all the usual horse trading.

Former senator and now Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sonny Angara bewailed publicly the slashing of P12 billion from his agency’s outlay. The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) got zero subsidy for next year. Thus, the actuarial life of the chief implementing agency of the Universal Health Act is at risk.

Being the agency in charge of state-funded infrastructure activities, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) got more projects that were not even in the list of the President’s National Expenditure Program (NEP) for next year. The bonanza of realignments resulted to a P1.113-trillion DPWH budget.

Self-proclaimed “super Ate,” Senator Marcos assailed PBBM allies in Congress, whom she accused of impeachment-baiting her younger brother to commit an unconstitutional act. The 1987 Constitution states that education should receive the highest budget allocation among government offices. With overall P925-billion budgets for basic, higher and technical-vocation education put together, the DPWH budget for next year still exceeded it.

She also denounced DPWH’s “various infrastructure projects” that she claimed were reserved for “VIPs,” or very important politicians, glaringly in aid of May 2025 election. Herself up for re-election, she claimed “confusion” and “ignorance” as to how these changes got into the 2025 GAA. Although she was part of the bicam, she swore to high heavens: “We were not consulted on these drastic changes.”

PBBM though is not a stranger to this kind of culture in Congress. After all, he served as congressman in his home province at the second district of Ilocos Norte. His first term was from 1992 to 1995 and returned as congressman from 2007 to 2010. He got elected as senator in 2010 for a six-year term.

The 67-year-old Chief Executive is now taking a strong stand now in the mid-term of his tenure at Malacañang. He would no longer tolerate such wanton disregard, if not disrespect, for the President’s budget.

“Now, it’s up to us on how we regain control of the spending program, and I cannot give you the details yet... That is what we are doing. We’re going through item by item, line by line to see what is priority and what is not. That’s what we will come up with,” PBBM vowed.

He sat down at Malacañang with his economic managers to scrutinize with a fine-tooth comb the printed copy of the 2025 GAA. Assisted by his economic team led by Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, the President has nothing to worry about.

While Congress has the “powers of the purse,” the Chief Executive enjoys line-item veto powers over the budget bill. Our Constitution also provided for “automatic re-enactment” that allows the national government to operate its day-to-day mandate even without a new approved GAA. Since the 2025 GAA is an election budget anyways, it’s better that we have re-enacted 2024 GAA.