MANILA – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said the move to challenge the constitutionality of the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) before the Supreme Court (SC) is part of a destabilization plot against the government.
In an interview with the media on Thursday afternoon, the Chief Executive said the government will shut down everything in case the high court rules in favor of the petition.
“No, we shut down everything. I guess that’s what they want, they want the government to cease working so ‘yung matuloy yung kanilang mga destabilization na ginagawa,” Marcos said.
President Marcos said Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, on behalf of the Philippine government, would be the one to answer the petition questioning the legality of the 2025 national budget.
“The SolGen, of course, will be the one who will argue for the government, and he tells me, SolGen Meynard tells me that we are on a solid footing in terms of constitutionality,” Marcos said.
“I don’t know why they bother to file that because napakahirap ng kanilang assertion… We’re very confident that our case is strong,” President Marcos added.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte and Davao City 3rd District’s Cong. Isidro Ungab claimed last week that there were alleged “blank items” in the 2025 budget, to which President Marcos responded by labeling them as dishonest.
Stella Quimbo, the acting chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, confirmed the existence of blank items in the bicameral report on the P6.325 trillion national budget for 2025, but quickly clarified that funding for these items had been identified prior to the report’s signing.
Senatorial aspirant Vic Rodriguez, Ungab, and others have petitioned the Supreme Court to declare the 2025 national budget unconstitutional, citing alleged irregularities and the purported blank items in the bicameral conference committee report./PN
