By Rodolfo Dacleson II
(January 30, 2025) – Pres. Bongbong Marcos Jr. on Thursday claimed that the case filed against the 2025 national budget only aims to “destabilize” the government, arguing that it could lead to an operational shutdown.
Marcos admitted that his administration has no contingency plan if the Supreme Court rules the General Appropriations Act (GAA) unconstitutional.
“We shut down everything. I guess that’s what they (petitioners) want. They want the government to cease working so matuloy ‘yung kanilang mga destabilization,” said Marcos in an ambush interview during the inauguration of a runway at Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Lapu-Lapu, Cebu.
Last Monday, Davao Rep. Isidro Ungab and Marcos’ former executive secretary, Vic Rodriguez, among six petitioners, asked the Supreme Court to declare the 2025 GAA unconstitutional due to the alleged blank items in the bicameral committee report.
“Solicitor general Menardo Guevarra tells me that we are on a solid footing in terms of constitutionality. I don’t know why they bothered to file that,” added Marcos.
Guevarra is tasked to answer the petition.
On December 30, Marcos signed into law this year’s P6.326 trillion national budget, a slight decrease from his administration’s proposed P6.352 trillion after he vetoed line items worth P194 billion. He later admitted that the approved amount was “suboptimal.”
On January 18, Ungab and former president Rodrigo Duterte flagged the alleged missing budget amounts for items under the Department of Agriculture and unprogrammed appropriations in the bicameral committee report.
ALSO READ: Bicameral committee’s national budget report must be made public, says lawmaker
Marcos refuted the claims, saying Duterte is “lying.”
He also claimed he read the entire 4,057-page 2025 GAA, which the petitioners described as the “biggest money heist,” and found no blank items.
ALSO READ: Marcos defends 2025 nat’l budget: ‘I can’t find those damned blank items’
The Marcoses and the Dutertes have been quarreling due to “political differences,’ abolishing their once-touted UniTeam.
(PM)
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