MANILA – In response to a surge in website traffic and rampant misinformation about the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has upgraded its online platform. The DBM’s Information and Communications Technology Systems Service (ICTSS) executed a three-hour maintenance session from 10 p.m. Monday to 1 a.m. Tuesday to boost the website’s performance and efficiency.
This action was prompted by false rumors suggesting that the DBM had tampered with the 2025 GAA by adding content to ‘fill in the blanks.’ The DBM has firmly rejected these accusations, stating, ‘There is no truth to the rumors spread by those spreading fake news and attempting to destabilize the government that the DBM edited the 2025 General Appropriations Act to fill in the blanks, as there is no single page or figure missing in the 2025 GAA.’
The 2025 GAA has been accessible to the public on the DBM’s website since January 3, 2025, and has been viewed by thousands. Physical copies are also available at both houses of Congress. The DBM further noted that the National Expenditure Program for 2025, detailing the government’s proposed budget, was uploaded on July 29, 2024.
Highlighting the Philippines’ recent accolade as Asia’s most fiscally transparent nation, the DBM credits its commitment to transparency through initiatives like the Open Government Partnership and Digitalization. The department has called on the public to be vigilant against misinformation and to critically assess such claims.
Recent allegations by former president Rodrigo Duterte and Davao City 3rd District Representative Isidro Ungab claimed that 13 pages of the budget contained blank appropriations, hinting at a ‘blank check’ scheme. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. refuted these claims, accusing Duterte of falsehoods and emphasizing that the budget cannot legally include blank items. The DBM labeled these allegations as ‘malicious and irresponsible,’ clarifying that Duterte and Ungab referenced pages from the Bicameral Conference Committee Report, not the General Appropriations Bill or the approved GAA.