Finger-pointing over blank budget items continues

MANILA, Philippines — 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.

At a press conference, Bersamin said Malacañang 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.

“Let’s remove from our consciousness that we have anything to do with the blank pages you were talking about. That is why we resented so much that impression that the President was given a blank check, wala kaming kinalaman (we have nothing to do with it) – it’s internal to Congress,” Bersamin said.

Marcos earlier accused Duterte of lying about supposed missing amounts in the 2025 budget. Bersamin had also branded Duterte’s claims as “fake news.”

In a recent statement, the Department of Budget and Management said what had been presented by “certain misinformed individuals” were pages from the bicameral conference committee report and not the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) or the GAA.

“It is important to note that, under the 1987 Constitution, it is the Bill – the GAB and NOT the Bicam Report, that is officially submitted for the consideration and approval or veto of the President,” the DBM said.

Asked what could be the implication of the looming legal challenges to the implementation of this year’s budget, Bersamin said, “nothing.”

SC TRO unlikely

Bersamin, a former chief justice, said the SC is unlikely to stop the implementation of the budget even if any of the petitioners would ask for a temporary restraining order “because the government function must be run.”

“I cannot understand if the Supreme Court will have that tendency to put a stop to it even if any of those challengers will ask for a TRO because the government function must be run,” he said.

“Now, they will say, fall back on the re-enacted budget, but the re-enacted budget can come only when there is a finding that it has been vetoed or the Supreme Court has nullified the present budget. But that is yet to be in the end of the year or maybe when the resolution of these challenges will have been delivered,” the executive secretary said.

Bersamin said it’s the task of the President to ensure proper implementation of the 2025 national budget.

As part of this, the DBM hosted a budget forum at the PICC, attended by heads of agencies.

“The President is really in earnest in seeing the proper implementation of the budget – the surviving parts of the budget,” Bersamin said.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the President has reviewed the outlay of 50 percent of agencies, adding that so far, P30 billion would be needed to finance programs that did not receive funding.

Earlier describing the 2025 national budget as “suboptimal,” Marcos assured key government agencies of funding restoration  for vital programs that sustained budget cuts.

But Pangandaman maintained the executive branch cannot restore projects and programs that were not included in the GAA amid criticisms on the supposed “modifications” being done by the administration on the budget.

Only in bicam report

For Senate finance committee chairperson Grace Poe, the public should refer to the GAB, or the enrolled copy signed into law by Marcos, and not to the report of the bicameral conference committee where the supposed blank items had been spotted.

It was in the bicameral report where blank items were seen in projects involving irrigation, agricultural equipment, fertilizers, seeds, fisheries and crops.

“The enrolled bill is the most important. There were no blanks there. All the totals have already been verified,” Poe said in a GMA News report Thursday night.

Poe echoed the statement of Senate President Francis Escudero that the 2025 national budget amounting to P6.326 trillion would not have been approved had there been discrepancies.

“Senate President Chiz was correct in his statement, which should really be referenced,” she said, referring to the Senate president by his nickname. “In fact, the President has also not seen blanks in our enrolled bill.”

Poe said there was a technical working group tasked to consolidate the House and Senate versions of the budget.

“When we completed the bicam report and we submitted it as an enrolled bill, it was complete,” Poe said.

“It is wrong to accuse Congress of issuing blank checks. That is a lie. It is not true. The funds could not be released if there were blanks in the GAA,” Escudero said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said he agreed with Bersamin that the executive branch cannot be held liable for the blank items in the bicameral conference committee report on the 2025 budget.