Budget trail grows hot

The search for the culprit behind the missing items in the budget has been narrowed down to the period between the printing of the bicameral conference committee report, signed by members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and the submission of the enrolled bill to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The attempt to manipulate the budget, according to a House member, was first revealed when the soft and hard copies of the bicam report were sent to bicam members, who were given only a few minutes to review the document, which has more than 200 pages.

Those who received the document could only skim through it, and in a matter of minutes, the vote was made over its ratification.

A bicam member said he counted 12 blanks in the report, mostly on agriculture-related projects, which included items in the budget of the Department of Agriculture, the National Irrigation Authority (NIA), and the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).

Two blank items were also found under the unprogrammed allocations (UA).

Unprogrammed allocations are standby items that can only be funded when there are excess revenues or financing.

The blanks disappeared in the General Appropriations Act signed by President Marcos, which showed that the NIA obtained P56.4 billion in allocations, while the PCA received P889 million.

The blanks, according to the bicam member, can be filled between the period that the report became an enrolled bill.

The mystery remains about what purpose the blank items served, according to the bicam member.

Congress spends considerable time deliberating on the budget to ensure that the amounts in the General Appropriations Act accurately reflect the country’s needs.

The bicam member indicated the blank items were a serious matter that needed to be looked into, since it means that the budget can be manipulated by specific individuals or groups.

“This is not the first time that an attempt to tamper with the General Appropriations Bill has been made,” the House member said.

Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, who blew the lid off the missing numbers in the budget bill, claims not 12 but 28 blank items in the 2025 budget.

Ungab said he holds a signed bicameral conference committee report, received by the House Bills and Index Services dated 11 December 2024, which proves there are 13 pages with 28 blank items signed by the bicam members and ratified by the plenary.

Ungab and other petitioners have filed a case before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2025.

“The Bicam Report was signed and ratified by both Houses of Congress with 28 blank items, while the GAA was complete with no blank items in it. What is the missing link?” he asked.

According to Ungab, the enrolled bill is the “missing link,” and it is now the subject of the SC directive to the House and Senate, based on a petition he filed, to produce the original enrolled bill.

That would point to the bicam leadership. It was Senate President Chiz Escudero and Senate finance panel chief Grace Poe who vigorously defended the amendments contained in the bicam report.

The hunt is drawing near to netting the culprits responsible for the bastardization of the budget.