MANILA – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. reiterated that there are no blank entries in the bicameral conference committee report concerning the 2025 national budget.
During a speech delivered in Cebu City on Thursday morning, the Chief Executive stated that he thoroughly reviewed the 4,057 pages of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2025 and found no omissions.
“And so, for those of you, up to now I cannot find those damned blank items. We’ll keep looking, we’ll keep looking. But I’m really convinced that they simply do not exist because it is not allowed to exist,” Marcos said.
“So for those of you who think that the Presidency is just handshakes, photo ops, I assure you, that fine print is alive in my office as well,” the President further said added.
The 2025 GAA has been enacted into law, establishing a national budget of P6.326 trillion for 2025, while over P194 billion in line items were vetoed due to inconsistencies with his administration’s priorities.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte and Davao City 3rd District Representative 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
