Marcos Jr.: Budget challenge part of destabilization

‘I can’t find those damned blank items’

MANILA, Philippines — Groups challenging the constitutionality of the 2025 budget before the Supreme Court are out to shut down the government so they could carry out their “destabilization” agenda, President Marcos said yesterday, even as he expressed confidence that the spending law would be able to withstand legal scrutiny.

Speaking to reporters in Cebu, Marcos said the administration has no contingency plan in case the Supreme Court strikes down the P6.326-trillion national budget as unconstitutional.

“No, we shut down everything. I guess that’s what they want. They want the government to cease working so they can continue with their destabilization,” the President said.

Marcos said he was wondering why critics would bother to question the expenditure law on the basis of “difficult” assertions.

“The SolGen (solicitor general), of course, will be the ones who will argue for the government, and he tells me – SolGen Menard (Guevarra) tells me  that we are on a solid footing in terms of constitutionality,” Marcos said.

“It’s not for me to make the argument. We will let the SolGen make the argument before the Supreme Court and we are very confident that our case is strong,” he added.

Earlier this month, Davao City 3rd District Rep. Isidro Ungab questioned what he described as “discrepancies” in the bicameral conference committee report on the 2025 budget, particularly the alleged blank amounts for items under the agriculture department and unprogrammed appropriations. Former president Rodrigo Duterte voiced his support for Ungab and argued that the national budget is not valid legislation if it contains missing amounts.

On Tuesday, Ungab and Marcos’ former executive secretary Vic Rodriguez petitioned the Supreme Court to declare the 2025 General Appropriations Act as unconstitutional, citing the supposed blank items and its not having allocated the biggest budget to the education sector as required by the Constitution.

According to the petitioners, the bicameral conference committee committed grave abuse of discretion when it signed the committee report on this year’s budget despite the presence of blank items. They also argued that the blanks were “very dubious and dangerous as the budgets for the said offices and programs remain undetermined.”

In a speech during the 20th national convention of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines also in Cebu, Marcos emphasized the budget law does not contain any blanks.

“As President, I am going to give you a run for your money. Just last month, I had to read 4,057 pages of the General Appropriations Act for 2025. Because I reviewed it, analyzed it, and yes—in parts vetoed it. And so, for those of you and up to now I cannot find those damned blank items,” he said.

“We’ll keep looking, we’ll keep looking. But I don’t – I really – I’m convinced that they simply do not exist because it is not allowed to exist. So for those of you who think the presidency is just handshakes, photo ops, I assure you, that fine print is alive in my office as well,” he maintained.

Marcos vetoed P194 billion worth of items in the spending bill.