Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo (second from left) speaks at a House hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. (File photo from a video on the Facebook page of the House of Representatives)
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo has maintained that the enrolled budget bill or the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) submitted for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.鈥檚 signature was complete.
Her view comes amid questions and concerns from former lawmakers about some blanks in the line items.
Quimbo, in a statement on Monday, clarified that two versions are being discussed 鈥� the enrolled bill, or the final version, and the bicameral conference committee report on the disagreeing provisions of the House of Representatives and the Senate version of the budget.
While she did not confirm the existence of blanks in the bicam report, Quimbo said the report allowed the secretariat of both legislative chambers to implement corrections and adjustments.
鈥淚 am issuing this statement to reaffirm what has already been clearly stated by the Executive Secretary, the Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management, the Senate President, and the President himself,鈥� Quimbo said.
鈥淭he 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) is lawful, valid and fully enforceable,鈥� she insisted.
The lawmaker is serving as acting chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations.
鈥淭here are two key points I want to stress for the benefit of all. First, the enrolled General Appropriations Bill is complete, with no blank allocations among its more than 235,000 line items,鈥� Quimbo maintained.
鈥淪econd, the Bicameral Report explicitly authorized the technical secretariats of both the Senate and the House of Representatives to implement corrections and adjustments as required,鈥� she explained.
The House member pointed out, 鈥淭hese do not affect the integrity nor the legality of the budget.鈥�
According to Quimbo, all the appropriations were already determined when the lawmakers agreed to ratify the bicam report.
鈥淲hen the members of the Bicameral Committee signed the report, all appropriations had already been determined and approved. No changes were made,鈥� she recalled.
鈥淭he enrolled General Appropriations Bill has been made publicly available, providing the best evidence of its completeness and compliance with due process. Makikita po ng lahat ito. Walang tinatago,鈥� she said.
(Everyone will see it. Nothing is being hidden.)
Quimbo claims the suggestions of irregularity are only politically motivated.
鈥淎ny suggestion of impropriety is unfounded and appears to be politically motivated rather than prompted by genuinely substantive concerns. It is unfortunate that an administrative matter is being maliciously misconstrued to create controversy where there is none,鈥� she said.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte and his ally, former appropriations panel head and Davao City 3rd District Rep. Isidro Ungab, first raised concerns about the blank items in the 2025 budget.
Last Wednesday, Ungab told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that he would challenge the legality of the 2025 GAA before the Supreme Court as there were blanks in the bicam committee report.
Copies of the bicam report showed that the blanks were mostly with Department of Agriculture and Department of Agrarian Reform programs.
The blanks were for allocations for the National Irrigation Authority and the National Food Authority.
This situation supposedly goes against the Constitution鈥檚 provision in Article VI, Section 24 which states that all 鈥渁ppropriation, revenue or tariff bills, bills authorizing increase of the public debt, bills of local application, and private bills shall originate exclusively in the House of Representatives.鈥�
READ: Duterte ally: Will raise budget 鈥榖lanks鈥� issue before聽
Marcos and other administration officials, however, dismissed these allegations, saying that Duterte is lying.
READ: Marcos denies 鈥榖lank鈥� GAA items, says Duterte 鈥榣ying鈥櫬�
Former lawmakers have urged Quimbo and the bicam members to explain allegations of having blanks in the budget.
Former House Deputy Speaker Erin Ta帽ada challenged Quimbo to speak about the issue, especially after she refused to answer questions from reporters as she was leaving a House panel hearing last Thursday.
Quimbo鈥檚 staffers said the lawmaker was rushing to an event after the hearing. Hence, she failed to answer questions.
鈥淲hy is Rep. Stella Quimbo afraid to tell the truth if there are blanks in the 2025 Budget? She should know. She is the newly installed Chair of the Committee of Appropriations. She was part of the Bi-Cam. Is she hiding the truth?鈥� Ta帽ada asked in a tweet last Friday.
LINK TO TWEET:
Former Senator Panfilo 鈥淧ing鈥� Lacson (File photo)
Former Senator Ping Lacson, meanwhile, observed that it seems nobody from the present Senate is talking about issues involving the budget.
鈥淭he bicam report on the 2025 budget that reportedly contained blank appropriations and was signed by the bicameral conference committee members looks like a repeat of the 2019 General Appropriations Act,鈥� Lacson remembered.
He said this was an instance 鈥渨hen former President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed P95.3 billion upon the then Sotto-led Senate鈥檚 strong representation after we discovered anomalous entries in the printed Enrolled Bill that were not reflected in our ratified bicam report.鈥�
鈥淏ut the big difference now is, it seems nobody among the present senators dared 鈥� or cared 鈥� to scrutinize the budget documents. Hence, this controversy now brewing,鈥� Lacson lamented.
鈥淭he Filipino taxpayers deserve an explanation. An examination of the Enrolled Bill printed by the House of Representatives and comparing it with the Ratified Bicam report will expose those responsible,鈥� the former senator suspected.
Quimbo is the latest to insist that the enrolled budget bill had no blank provisions.
Last Tuesday, Senator Risa Hontiveros said that although she voted against the 2025聽budget, she did not see any聽blanks聽in the items under the bicam report.
READ: Hontiveros rejects Duterte鈥檚 鈥榖lank items鈥� claim vs 2025 budget聽
Senate President Francis Escudero also maintained that the bicam report which he signed had no blank items.
Escudero, in an interview last Wednesday, said that Ungab 鈥� a former chairperson of the House committee on appropriations 鈥� should have known better as he is aware of the budget processes.
READ: Escudero: 鈥楴o聽blank聽items on 2025 national聽budget聽I signed鈥櫬�