Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman welcomed possible talks with Senator Koko Pimentel on challenging the constitutionality of the Marcos administration's P5.768-trillion budget this year.

Pimentel and Lagman have questioned the legality of this year's budget, particularly the P449.5 billion in unprogrammed funds.

Lagman told reporters yesterday that "there is a need to discuss the petition" filed before the Supreme Court with its proponent, Pimentel, and that he is just waiting "on the availability" of the senator.

 On Wednesday, Pimentel announced he would challenge the constitutionality of the 2024 budget before the high court with a member of the House of Representatives, whom he did not name.

"I am talking to a member of the House of Representatives who wants to join me in filing this case. When I finish now the outline, I will pass it to him," Pimentel said.

"As a matter of fact, I am about to finish our outline for the reasons why the additional P450 billion brought by Congress to the level of unprogrammed appropriations as proposed by the President is unconstitutional."

While Pimentel clarified that he was not referring to Lagman, he claimed that he sees the veteran lawmaker as a potential ally.

A day after the 2024 budget took effect on 1 January, Lagman raised its "constitutional infirmity," citing the 449.5 billion hike in unprogrammed funds, which arose from the handiwork of the congressional bicameral conference committee.

He asserted that the bicameral panel included P449.5 billion in excess of the unprogrammed appropriations, notwithstanding that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. only recommended P281.9 billion in the 2024 National Expenditure Program.

"The President's utter failure to veto the excess items aggravates the constitutional defect," said Lagman, the president of the once-ruling Liberal Party.

The bicam's decision to augment the unprogrammed funds, he said, contravened Section 25 (1) of Article VI of the 1987 Constitution, mandating that "Congress may not increase the appropriations recommended by the President for the operation of the government as specified in the budget or the NEP."

 "Verily, since the Constitution does not distinguish between the programmed appropriations and the unprogrammed appropriations with respect to the congressional ban, the ceiling of both cannot be exceeded by the Congress," he pointed out.