gcash player Claims of blank entries in budget aim to restore VP Sara’s funds – solon

La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega. OFFICIAL FB PAGE

MANILA, Philippines — Claims about blank entries in the 2025 budget are merely intended to push for the reinstatement of the slashed allocation for Vice President Sara Duterte, La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega said on Thursday.

Ortega said in a statement that Sara’s father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, is spreading these claims about the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) to mislead the public and “manipulate the budget process.”

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“Former President Duterte’s allegations of ‘blank appropriations’ in the 2025 budget are pure disinformation. This is a deliberate effort to mislead the public and manipulate the budget process to bring back the confidential funds previously allocated to the Office of the Vice President,” Ortega said.

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“Lumang style na ng mga internet troll ang magpakalat ng kasinungalingan. Pero ngayon, mas maalam na ang mga tao kung alin ang totoo at alin ang peke,” he added.

Ortega emphasized that the 2025 GAA was properly crafted and underwent a “thorough and constitutional process.”

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“The so-called ‘blank allocations’ are a fabrication meant to sow confusion and undermine the administration’s commitment to fiscal transparency and accountability,” he said.

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“Let’s set the record straight – there are no blank allocations in the budget. The reductions made were necessary to ensure that government funds are properly utilized and directed to priority programs that benefit the Filipino people,” he added.

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During the discussions for the 2025 budget, the House decided to trim the budget allocated to Vice President Duterte’s office by P1.3 billion, or from P2.03 billion to just P733 million.

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Her father, along with his ally, Davao City 3rd District Rep. Isidro Ungab, initially raised concerns about the draft version of the GAA, the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), allegedly containing multiple blanks. However, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. dismissed these claims, saying the elder Duterte was lying.

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On Wednesday, Ungab told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that he plans to challenge the 2025 GAA before the Supreme Court, claiming that the bicameral conference committee report ratified by the House and Senate contained blank entries.

READ: Duterte ally: Will raise budget ‘blanks’ issue before SC

Under the 1987 Constitution, the budget process begins in the House of Representatives. Once the chamber completes its version of the budget, the GAB is forwarded to the Senate. The Senate can then propose amendments to the GAB, and any discrepancies between the House and Senate versions are resolved through a bicameral conference committee.

The bicam then comes out with a committee report, which must be ratified by both the House and the Senate before being forwarded to President Marcos for approval or veto. Once the President approves the bicam report on the GAB, it is officially labeled as the GAA.

If the final version of the budget is approved with blanks, it may violate the Constitution’s provision in Article VI, Section 24, which states that all “appropriation, revenue, or tariff bills, bills authorizing an increase in public debt, bills of local application, and private bills shall originate exclusively in the House of Representatives.”

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Earlier, ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro stated that while it is true there were blanks in the GAB version given to them, she was unsure whether it was a working draft or the final version submitted to Malacañang.

If it was true that the enrolled bill contained blanks, then it may be a constitutional issue, according to Castro.

“If it is true that there are blanks in the enrolled bill — because the enrolled bill is the final copy that comes from Congress and is sent to Malacañang […] there will be constitutional problems because the executive cannot just fill up whatever blanks are present,” she said.

“Maybe the copy sourced by Rep. Ungab — I’m not sure — is the working copy of the bicameral conference committee.  But you cannot say that the bicam copy is invalid because the final output is with the GAA 2025.  So if he can prove that there are blanks there, we will have constitutional questions there,” she added.

Aside from Ortega, other lawmakers have disputed the inclusion of blanks in either the GAB or the GAA. Senator Risa Hontiveros said last Tuesday that while she voted against the 2025 budget, she did not see any blanks in the items under the bicam report.

READ: Hontiveros rejects Duterte’s ‘blank items’ claim vs 2025 budget

Senate President Francis Escudero also maintained that the bicam report that he signed had no blank items.

READ: Escudero: ‘No blank items on 2025 national budget I signed’

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Escudero in an interview on Wednesday said that Ungab — a former chairperson of the House committee on appropriations — should know better as he is aware of the budget processes.gcash player

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