EXECUTIVE Secretary Lucas Bersamin yesterday said President Marcos Jr. is set to veto some line items in the proposed 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) transmitted by Congress.
Bersamin, in a statement, also said the scheduled December 20 signing of the spending bill has been postponed pending the completion of the review being conducted by budget officials on the consolidated version of the proposed national budget next year.
“The scheduled signing of the General Appropriations Act on December 20 will not push through to allow more time for a rigorous and exhaustive review of a measure that will determine the course of the nation for the next year,” he said, adding the final date for the signing of the budget measure has yet to be determined.
“While we cannot yet announce the date of signing, we can now confirm that certain items and provisions of the national budget bill will be vetoed in the interest of public welfare to conform with the fiscal program and in compliance with law,” Bersamin said.
He did not disclose, though, what provisions will be vetoed by the President.
Bersamin made the statement amid the growing tension between lawmakers and Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara over the close to P12 billion cut made by the budget bicameral committee in the Department of Education’s (DepEd) appropriation for next year.
The bicameral panel reduced DepEd’s budget from P748 billion to P737 billion.
The President has earlier said the executive is “working” to restore the DepEd budget cut after Angara decried that the department’s computerization program would suffer from Congress’ move, pointing out that P10 billion of the slashed amount is intended for the automation of the public school system.
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 of Representatives have slammed both the reduced DepEd budget and the higher DPWH allocation, saying these violate the constitutional provision mandating that the government should 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.
SYSTEM OF CHECKS AND BALANCES
Senate President Francis Escudero said a review of the 2025 budget measure is part of the legislative process and the “system of checks and balances in our Constitution.”
“The Executive is well within its rights and prerogatives to review, study, and make line item vetoes – as is usually done every year with the General Appropriations Bill – especially given its length, complexity and detail,” Escudero said.
Sen. Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance, said the executive review “is a sign of a healthy democracy.”
“We have to support the checks and balances of our budgetary process. The President has the authority to assess the budget and approve or veto the proposed GAA. I believe his economic managers are giving the President the best advice possible given the situation,” Poe said.
“The GAA is the most important piece of legislation that can determine our economic stability and our GDP growth in 2025,” she added.
Rep. Zaldy Co (PL, Ako Bicol), chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, said the House leadership “supports and respects President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s decision to delay the signing of the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) to allow for a meticulous review of its provisions.”
“We fully understand and commend President Marcos for his commitment to ensure that the national budget aligns with the country’s priorities,” Co said.
“This approach exemplifies the strength of our democratic processes and the effective system of checks and balances in our government,” he said.
Co said the President’s decision to postpone the budget’s enactment “underscores his dedication to transparency and accountability.”
“By scrutinizing the proposed P6.352 trillion budget, the administration aims to ensure that public funds are allocated efficiently and responsibly,” he said. “We stand prepared to work alongside the President to refine the budget, ensuring it serves the best interests of all Filipinos.”
COMPUTERIZATION FUNDS
DepEd Undersecretary for Finance Analyn Sevilla yesterday debunked criticisms on the agency’s low utilization of its budget for the computerization program.
Sevilla said 89 percent of DepEd’s funding to acquire computers, laptops and other electronic gadgets for public schools in the country have already been obligated.
“Out of a total budget of P32 billion for the DepEd Computerization Program from 2022 to 2024, P28.5 billion, equivalent to 89 percent, has been obligated as of November 30, 2024,” Sevilla said in a message.
The DCP aims to provide schools with essential Information Communications Technology equipment and internet connectivity, and enhance their digital infrastructure.
Angara has earlier said that the utilization rate of the program’s funding surpassed 90 percent in 2023.
Poe had earlier cited a Commission on Audit (COA) report that DepEd only used half of its allocation for the purchase of computers last year to justify the budget cut.
Vice President Sara Duterte was the DepEd secretary in 2023 in a concurrent capacity. She quit her post in June this year.
Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro echoed Poe’s position.
On Tuesday, Escudero said the DepEd has P36 billion in unused funds which it can use for the computerization program.
He said the DepEd has not fully used the funds allocated for its computerization program from 2022 to 2024.
Escudero said that in 2022, DepEd allocated P13.068 billion for its computerization program but did not spend P10.034 billion of the amount; in 2023, DepEd only spent 50 percent of its P20.4 billion allocation; and this year, the agency has yet to spend P15.9 billion out of its P18.08 billion earmarked for computerization.
“That is a total of P36.13 billion in unspent funds over the past three years, more than thrice the P10 billion that DepEd would like to be restored in its 2025 budget. So may pondo naman na puwedeng i-tap si Presidente (So, there are funds that the President can tap),” Escudero said.
He added that “from 2022 to 2024, 70 percent of the P51.5 billion allotted for (the) DepEd computerization program were unspent.”
‘MIRACLE’
Sen. Imee Marcos yesterday hit the process by which the Senate ratified the consolidated version of the 2025 national budget.
In a privilege speech, Marcos said she feels that some kind of “miracle” happened with the ratification of the budget bill approved by the bicameral committee.
Marcos said she had previously written Poe requesting that an advance meeting be held with lawmakers from the House to clear things up before they formally convene the bicameral conference committee.
She said part of the letter also requested Poe to first discuss with the vice chairmen of the Senate finance committee any changes introduced to the Senate-approved budget before the bicameral panel approves them.
For “unknown reasons,” Marcos said she did not receive a reply from Poe.
She said senators had a caucus last November 26 but “the budget was not even raised in the caucus.”
She said Poe did not even furnish her and most of the senators a copy of the bicameral report even as Sen. Ronald dela Rosa requested at the start of the joint meeting last November 28 that senators be given sufficient time to review the final version of budget.
She said she still has yet to get a copy of the bicameral committee.
“The majority of the Senate contingent signed the signature page of the bicam report. However, several of the senators soon refused to sign the rest of the report when they saw the drastic and inexplicable changes reflected therein,” she said.
Marcos said senators are supposedly “disheartened” by the way the bicameral meetings were conducted and by the means that the consolidated budget measure was ratified.
“I also attempted to obtain a CCTV footage of the reported ratification of the 2025 bicam report. For some incomprehensible reason, the Senate Secretariat refused to oblige, alleging that a non-existent data privacy regulation prohibited my being provided a copy. They seem to forget that sessions in the Senate are public and are even livestreamed nationally,” she said.
She also accused “those in charge of the bicam” of “massaging” the budget: “Minamasahe pa po. Allocating and adjusting among themselves and their associates the infrastructure and other projects so that those who are in their good graces get a piece of the proverbial pie,” she added. – With Wendell Vigilia and Ashzel Hachero
