Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero said Wednesday that the comments on the petition filed against the 2025 national budget with the Supreme Court have been already referred to the Office of Solicitor General (OSG).
“I already referred the matter to the OSG to handle the case as we usually do,” Escudero said in a Viber message.
“The Senate will but through the OSG who is the legal representative of the Philippine government,” he added.
The Supreme Court (SC) recently ordered Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, the Senate, and the House of Representatives to respond to a petition challenging the constitutionality of the 2025 national budget.
The petition for certiorari and prohibition, filed by former Executive Secretary and senatorial aspirant Vic Rodriguez, Davao City 3rd District Representative Isidro Ungab, and others, named Bersamin, Senate President Francis Escudero, and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez as respondents.
The SC En Banc acted on the petition Tuesday, granting the respondents a non-extendible 10-day deadline to submit their comments.
The petitioners argue that Republic Act No. 12116, or the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), is unconstitutional due to alleged blank items in the bicameral report.
Additionally, they claim the budget:
- fails to allocate mandatory funding for the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth),
- unlawfully increases appropriations beyond the President’s recommendations, and
- prioritizes infrastructure spending over education
Former President Rodrigo Duterte and Ungab were the first to raise concerns about the alleged discrepancies in the bicameral report.
Acting House Appropriations Committee chairperson Stella Quimbo confirmed the existence of blank items in the P6.325 trillion national budget bicameral report.
However, she clarified that funding for these items was identified before the report’s signing. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News
