ANOTHER petition against the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) has been lodged before the Supreme Court, with the petitioners saying it violates the 1987 Constitution by failing to allot the highest funding priority to education.
It was the third such petition against the 2025 GAA filed with the SC.
The Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC), Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), and the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates filed the petition for certiorari and prohibition with a prayer for a temporary restraining order asking the High Court to nullify Republic Act 12116 or the 2025 GAA signed in December last year.
The TDC was represented by its chairperson Benjo Basas, FDC by its secretary general Rovik Obanil, and PAHRA by secretary general Edgardo Cabalitan Jr.
The petitioners said the 2025 GAA violates Section 5(5), Article XIV of the 1987 Constitution, which mandates the prioritization of education in government appropriations. They said under this year’s GAA, priority was given to the Department of Public Works and Highways.
“The allocation of a staggering P1.05 trillion to the Department of Public Works and Highways significantly surpassed the combined budgets of the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and state universities and colleges, which only total P913.3 billion,” the petitioners said.
They also said that while the government claims education received the largest allocation at P1.055 trillion, reality tells a different story, as they pointed to the P2.05-trillion earmarked for debt servicing, P1.2 trillion for the payment of principal debts, and P848 billion for interest payments.
They said this clearly surpasses the amount allocated to the entire education sector.
“By excluding debt service and creatively appropriating funds under the education sector, the budget is made to appear as if education received the highest priority when, in reality, it did not,” they said.
RECLASSIFICATION
The petitioners also criticized the government’s reclassification of funds to make it appear that the education sector receives the highest budgetary share.
They pointed to the inclusion of non-traditional education-related allocations from various agencies, such as the Philippine Military Academy and the National Defense College of the Philippines under the Department of National Defense, the Philippine National Police Academy under the Philippine National Police, the Philippine Public Safety College and Local Government Academy under the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the Philippine Science High School System and Science Education Institute under the Department of Science and Technology.
“This aggregation resulted in a purported P50-billion lead over the DPWH budget,” they said.
With this, the petitioners asked the High Court to declare the 2025 GAA unconstitutional for violating the education priority mandate, and to issue a writ of prohibition stopping its implementation, and a temporary restraining order to stop fund disbursements under the 2025 budget.
Named respondents in the latest petition are President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, the Senate of the Philippines, and the House of Representatives.
The first petition was filed by former Marcos’ executive secretary and senatorial candidate Victor Rodriguez and Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab.
Rodriguez and Ungab said the 2025 GAA violates the provision in the Constitution that the largest share of the budget should go to the education sector, and failed to allocate funding to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation while unlawfully increasing appropriations beyond the President’s recommendation.
They also said GAA is unconstitutional because the Bicameral Committee Report on the General Appropriations Bill contained blank items.
Malacañang has denied there were blank items in the GAA.
The second petition was filed by the 1Sambayan Coalition headed by retired SC Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, together with Sanlakas, Advocates for National Interest, and other individuals.
Carpio’s group is seeking a TRO against the implementation of the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) and is asking the High Court to declare as partially unconstitutional some provisions in the 2025 GAA.
The SC set the conduct of oral arguments on the petitions in May.
