The executive branch has firmly denied any involvement in the alleged blank entries within the bicameral conference committee report on the 2025 national budget, according to a statement from Malacañang on Friday. This comes in response to claims by Davao City Representative Isidro Ungab, who plans to challenge these supposed blank items in the 2025 General Appropriations Act before the Supreme Court.
During a press briefing at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin expressed respect for Ungab and others planning to take the issue to the Supreme Court. However, he emphasized that the executive branch is not responsible for any deficiencies in the bicam report, as it is solely a product of the legislative process. Bersamin clarified that the executive’s role is limited to the final product signed by the President.
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, present at the conference, noted that the executive branch had not seen the bicameral report containing the alleged blank items. In a podcast video on Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte’s YouTube channel, former President Rodrigo Duterte and Ungab claimed that at least 13 pages of the budget had blank appropriations.
Bersamin refrained from commenting on potential legal challenges to the 2025 budget, calling it speculative without seeing the actual complaint. He also defended President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., stating it was incorrect to blame him and that only Congress could address the claims about the blank items.
Bersamin urged the public to direct questions to congressmen and senators, emphasizing the executive branch’s non-involvement and lack of benefit from the alleged blank spaces. Meanwhile, former Senate President Franklin Drilon, speaking in Iloilo City, asserted that he had reviewed the printed copy and enrolled bill of the 2025 General Appropriations Act and found no blank items, though he acknowledged some pages might lack amounts due to rushed work.