President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. met again with his Cabinet on Thursday to thoroughly review the 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).
According to Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Marcos wants to ensure that the budget proposal conforms to the Constitution.
“The President and the Cabinet are RIGHT NOW (with or without the calls) thoroughly reviewing the various items of the GAB to make them conform to the Constitution, and to see to it that the budget prioritizes the main legacy thrusts of the Administration,” he said in a message to reporters.
“The President has been most prudent in programming and spending our limited fiscal resources,” he added.
The 2025 budget is set to be signed on December 30, after the scheduled activities of the President for Rizal Day, ten days after its original signing date.
Marcos postponed the December 20 budget signing to “allow more time for a rigorous and exhaustive review.”
The GAB has become controversial due to its zero allocation for the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) and its P12 billion budget cut to the Department of Education (DepEd).
On Wednesday, Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri renewed the call to look into the 2025 budget proposal before affixing his signature on the measure. He hoped that the concerns with the GAB would be addressed by this time.
Zubiri added that it would help stave off possible legal action in the Supreme Court, declaring the budget unconstitutional and delaying its implementation.
On Monday, Presidential Communications Office Acting Secretary Cesar Chavez said there is no mention yet of a possible budget reenactment for 2025.
According to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), if the GAB fails in Congress for the coming fiscal year, the preceding General Appropriations Act (GAA) shall be deemed reenacted and shall remain in force and in effect until the GAB is passed by Congress.
Senator Imee Marcos, the President’s sister, criticized the decision to continue the budget signing on Monday, stressing that the budget proposal should be returned to Congress to fix provisions.
Imee said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) should have its budget reduced by P188 billion to make the whole GAB “constitutional.”
The DPWH has a budget allocation of P1.113 trillion from the P6.352 trillion national budget.
In Section 5 (5), Article XIV of the 1987 Constitution, the State shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education and ensure that teaching will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment.
Imee added that while it is true that Bongbong can veto line items in the budget proposal, he cannot realign the budget to fund other projects for next year.
Malacañang said it has no response yet to Senator Imee’s statements at this time.