A perfect storm

Former President Rodrigo R. Duterte and incumbent Congressman Isidro T. Ungab raised an alarm over a potential criminal act when, upon a cursory review of the copy of the signed General Appropriation Budget (GAB), several pages where blank spaces where amounts are supposed to be indicated were discovered.

GAB, which is also referred to as an “enrolled bill,” becomes the General Appropriation Act once the President signs it.

Just to be more accurate, we googled “enrolled bill” thus: “After both houses have given final approval to a bill, a final copy of the bill, known as the ‘enrolled bill,’ shall be printed, and certified as correct by the Secretary of the Senate and the Secretary General of the House of Representatives.” Which simply means that the members of the Bicameral Committee members (of the Senate and the House of Representatives) have signed it.

The caution aired by former President Duterte and Congressman Ungab (3rd District, Davao City) was actually an act of concern. Imagine the impact if the Executive Secretary and members of the upper and lower chambers of the Legislative body are indicted and face sanctions by the Supreme Court.

Instead, the opposite happened. The kneejerk reaction of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and President Ferdinand Marcos sounded like a ridicule, the latter even recklessly and with an air of assertiveness, called his predecessor a liar.

In brief, they contended that the enrolled bill which the President signed as the General Appropriation Act had no blank spaces. The subalterns from the Department of Budget even joined the drama adding that what Ungab and Duterte got was a different document.

But the air of arrogance in the Palace suddenly turned ambivalent when one after the other the controversial signed GAB documents with 13 pages with blank spaces surfaced.

Even UNTV got a copy. And then the Acting Chairman of the Appropriation Committee, Stella “Hermes” Quimbo added more spice to the hot issue.

Ungab, a man with such a forbearing character, must have been so humiliated he threatened to file an appropriate case before the Supreme Court.

After all, he has been Chairman of the Appropriations Committee for a number of years and knows where symptoms of shenanigans could happen.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin created a perfect storm. As quickly as they berated Ungab and Duterte ES Bersamin was all over TV networks and the front pages of Manila dailies and online platforms.

“The Office of the President would not be held liable if the issue of the supposed blank items in the bicameral conference Committee report on the 2025 national budget will be brought before the Supreme Court.”

As he anticipated, appropriate charge was filed with the High Court. If this case is unprecedented in Philippine history, it is also extra-ordinary as the entire Legislative Department represented by Martin Romualdez for the House of Representatives, Chiz Escudero for the Senate and Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin stand to argue their case before the Supreme Court.