MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The Marcos administration should prepare for legal challenges that may arise from the signing into law of the 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).
This, as the last-minute tweaks by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. may not be enough to correct supposed flaws in the budget for next year, former Sen. Panfilo 鈥淧ing鈥� Lacson said on Monday.
In a Viber message to the Inquirer, Lacson noted that the president vetoed only P26 billion of the supposed P288 billion in 鈥渃ongressional insertions鈥� under the proposed funding for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
鈥淗aving vetoed only P26.065B from the P288B 鈥榗ongressional insertions,鈥� mostly in the bicameral conference, the DepEd (Department of Education) budget is still not 鈥榓ssigned the highest budgetary priority鈥� contrary to Article XIV Sec 5(5) of the 1987 Constitution,鈥� he said.
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鈥淭hat being said, Malaca帽ang may already be preparing for any constitutional challenge that may arise from this鈥攂oth before the Supreme Court and the court of public opinion,鈥� Lacson added.
The former senator, who is running under the senatorial slate of the administration in the May 2025 elections, issued the statement moments after President Marcos signed the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA). (See related story on this page.)
In his speech during the signing ceremony, Marcos disclosed that he vetoed P194 billion worth of items in the 2025 GAB, which had been criticized due to the alleged fund insertions even after its passage in both Houses of Congress.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III also found the President鈥檚 veto of certain items in the budget wanting.
鈥淚 was hoping for more reduction in programmed appropriations in order to give education the highest budgetary priority and even greater reduction in the unprogrammed appropriations,鈥� he said.
At a press briefing, however, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin expressed confidence that the approved GAA would surmount any legal challenge.
鈥淚 am confident that we worked very hard on this and that our efforts will be validated by any kind of lack of challenge. So, we are not going to encourage the challenge,鈥� he said.
But the government cannot stop critics from questioning the legality of the newly signed spending measure, even before the Supreme Court, Bersamin said.
鈥淭o those alleging that our budget is an unconstitutional budget, I want to tell all of you that there will never be such an opportunity for the budget to be unconstitutional. This is the interplay between the Congress and the executive branch,鈥� he said.
Senate President Francis Escudero, for his part, described the GAA as 鈥渁 product of a truly collaborative process involving the inputs of various sectors, including the public.鈥�
鈥淥ur work [in government] is not to blindly ratify proposals, but to review them rigorously, and if need be recalibrate the budget to align with the needs of the people. Not to do so amounts to a betrayal of public trust,鈥� Escudero said.