The Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) statement regarding the blank portions of the 2025 national budget has raised more questions than it has answered.
The DBM statement assailed the allegation that the General Appropriations Act (GAA) contained blank spaces, branding the allegation as malicious and irresponsible.
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman first denied that the discrepancies existed in the 2025 GAA signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
“These allegations are completely false and reckless,” Pangandaman blasted away.
Yet in the same breath, the budget chief acknowledged the discrepancies.
“What has been presented by certain misinformed individuals are pages from the Bicameral Conference Committee (Bicam) Report,” she conceded.
She then clarified that neither the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) nor the General Appropriations Act (GAA) contained blank lines that would need to be filled in.
“It is important to note that, under the 1987 Constitution, it is the bill — the GAB — and NOT the bicam report that is officially submitted for the consideration, and approval or veto, of the President,” according to Pangandaman.
What the DBM statement amounted to was a denial that the final draft of the budget carried the empty spaces and a subsequent admission that the documents that President Rodrigo Duterte and Davao City’s 3rd District Representative Isidro Ungab referred to were authentic but were the output of the bicameral conference committee.
Senators and congressmen make up the bicameral conference committee, often disparagingly referred to as the “third chamber” of Congress. Most of the pork barrel in the budget were believed inserted during the bicam sessions.
In the budget law are P200 billion or so in unprogrammed items that the Department of Finance (DoF) would need to look for sources of funding for.
Plugging the gap for the provisional items is done through revenue collections that exceed their target, through borrowings, or what has been recently resorted to by the government, through the collusion of members of the executive and legislative branches to sweep up “excess funds” from government-owned and -controlled corporations.
Unprogrammed allocations consist of regular items in the budget that were shoved aside to make way for the funding of pet projects of legislators that were inserted in the allotments for agencies.
Based on the documents shown to the public, several budget provisions were intentionally left unfilled in the bicam, which was likened to issuing a blank check to the executive.
Due to the discrepancies, there were calls for the 2025 budget to be returned to Congress and amended but since it already carried the signature of the President, the GAA can only be challenged in the Supreme Court.
It was also demanded that those responsible for the bicameral report provide an explanation to the public.
President Marcos signed the proposed 2025 national budget into law on 30 December 2024 while directly vetoing over P194 billion worth of line items.
“Once the budget bill is presented to and signed by the President, it becomes law and it is a complete document with no blank pages or missing details,” according to Pangandaman.
“In no case does the executive issue a GAA with blank pages or figures,” she added.
“Clear and accurate understanding is critical for constructive dialogue,” Pangandaman went.
Since she wished it, Pangandaman should provide a clear response to questions about the huge unfilled spaces, a mystery that remains unresolved with the DBM’s obscure statement.