Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Wednesday clarified that he had not signed any blank entries in the approved bicameral conference committee report on the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) or the national budget.
“None,” Escudero answered when asked if he had signed any blank items in the report.
In a media briefing at the Senate, Escudero said he was unaware of any GAA documents with blank entries. “I don’t see my signature there, so I don’t know what that is,” he said in Filipino.
Escudero emphasized that only laws can be declared “unconstitutional and illegal.”
“The bicam report is not a law. The committee report is not a law. The law we’re talking about is the enrolled copy of the bill signed by the President. That’s what should be questioned,” he said.
Escudero added that a substitute committee report can still be amended, as it is not yet final.
“The General Appropriations Act, which is the product of any committee or conference committee report, is what is being questioned. That law is complete — there are no blank entries, no omissions, and the amounts add up. Please understand, the budget has around 200,000 lines with titles, project names, and amounts written down,” he pointed out.
He also noted that documents with blank entries cannot be considered an enrolled bill.
“It’s not enrolled; the enrolled bill is the one signed by the President in Malacañang,” he said.
Escudero said he had never heard of a committee report being declared illegal and unconstitutional.
“It’s not right to accuse Congress of having issued a blank check; that’s wrong. That’s a lie, and it’s not true that there were blanks in the GAA,” he added.
He stressed that the Department of Budget and Management and the National Treasury are not allowed to release the GAA with blank entries.
“The DBM cannot release it; the National Treasury cannot release it. If there’s a typographical error in the enrolled bill, like a blank line saying ‘Project ABCDE’ or ‘Road ABCDE’ without an amount, it cannot be released, and no one can just fill in the amount,” he explained.
Escudero said that complaints about the controversy can be filed in court, but the Senate will focus its remaining session days on more pressing legislation.
“If they want to waste time filing a case in court, they’re free to do that, but as for us, we have only 12 session days left, including today, minus the Chinese New Year,” he said.