PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. yesterday said he has ordered budget officials to scrutinize the “insertions” made by lawmakers in the consolidated 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) that was transmitted by the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The President said the review of the proposed P6.352 trillion national budget for next year is aimed at ensuring that it will be spent on government priority programs and projects.
“We have to have a look (at the budget) because there were a lot of changes from the budget requests from the different departments and we have to put it back in the same shape that we had first requested,” he said in mixed English and Filipino in an ambush interview on the sidelines of the Philippine Air Force change of command ceremonies at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City.
The President said the consolidated version of the 2025 national budget that was ratified by Congress earlier this month contain projects that are not part of the National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted by Malacañang.
He said some of these projects, which he did not identify, lack documentations and have unclear details on where they would be spent.
“I cannot give you the details yet… we are now (scrutinizing the budget) … We’re going through item by item, line by line to see what is priority and what is not. That’s what we will come up with,” he said.
The President dismissed suggestions that he return the budget bill to the bicameral committee so it can be “fixed.”
“Hindi… Wala sa procedure ‘yan (No, that is not the procedure). There is no procedure to return it to the bicam. It’s finished already in the House. It’s finished already in the (Senate). It’s finished in Congress. Tapos na (It’s finished),” he said.
“It’s up to us now to look at the items and to see what are appropriate, what are relevant, and what are the priorities,” the President said, adding that
he wants to know if the inserted projects are urgent and needed, especially since the government does not have enough savings and would be availing of loans to fund additional expenditures.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin has earlier said that the President is set to veto some of the budgetary items in the 2025 GAB.
Among the items that will likely be vetoed by the President is the almost P12 billion cut in the appropriation of the Department of Education (DepEd), which Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara has said would negatively impact on the department’s computerization bid.
Aside from the DepEd budget, questions have likewise been raised against the bicameral committee’s decision to increase the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) from P825 billion to P1.113 trillion.
Some senators and militant lawmakers from the House have slammed both the reduced DepEd budget and the higher DPWH allocation, saying these violate the constitutional provision mandating the government to prioritize the education sector in its annual spending.
Two other contentious provisions in the 2025 GAB are the zero subsidy given to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) and the P26 billion allotment for the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP), which Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III has said is an insertion made by the lower house.
Marcos said the executive would ensure that the 2025 budget will have stronger safeguards on spendings to ensure that it is directed at priority and important projects.
The President said he plans to sign the 2025 General Approriations Act (GAA) before the end of the year. He was originally set to sign the bill today, December 20.
