Former president Rodrigo Duterte and Davao City 3rd District Representative Isidro Ungab pointed to an alleged irregularity in the bicameral conference committee report on the recently approved 2025 national budget.
In an interview that SMNI shared on social media on Saturday evening, Ungab said there were blank spaces for items mostly under the Department of Agriculture and unprogrammed appropriations.
The blanks could not be considered a typographical, grammatical, or printing error, Ungab said.
“These are not, I would say, ordinary figures, because these figures are billions of pesos… Madaming pages yung ganito… Ang ibig sabihin merong discrepancy, so paano nagkadiscrepancy? (There are many pages like this… This means there was a discrepancy, so how did the discrepancy happen?)” said Ungab, a former chairperson of the House appropriations committee.
“With all these findings, makikita natin na defective yung bicam report, at bakit pinirmahan ng members? (we can see that the bicam report was defective, and why did the members sign it?) So, the House and the Senate ratified [a] defective bicam report. In other words, apektado yung ating [General Appropriations Act], (the [General Appropriations Act] has been affected) because the bicam report was defective,” he added.
Duterte said that budget items should not be left empty “to be filled up later on.”
“Pagka ganoon, there’s something terribly wrong… As a matter of fact, I would say kung may mga blanko yan na lumusot, that is not a valid legislation. Kung nasa batas na ‘yan, lumabas na ‘yan ng blanko-blanko, either it could be filled up before or after sa Congress… Pagka putol-putol yan o kulang, that is not a valid budget for implementation,” he said.
(When it’s like that, there’s something terribly wrong… As a matter of fact, I would say that is not a valid legislation when there are blanks. If that’s in the law, it came out as blanks, either it could be filled up before or after sa Congress… If it’s cut down or has parts missing, that is not a valid budget for implementation.)
“It’s not only inaccurate, but I think the budget, in totality, is invalid,” he added.
“That is not allowed by law. I would like to remind Congress, mali po ‘yan… (that is wrong…) Please correct it, or recall the budget and demand an explanation kung bakit dumating sa inyo yan ng ganoon kablanko. Parang binigyan ka ng blanking cheke diyan [at] bahala na kayo ano ilagay ninyo, (why the budget that arrived your way was blank. It’s like you were given a blank check [and] it’s up to you what you want to write),” he said.
He said anyone who tampered with the budget could face criminal prosecution.
“That is falsification of law… Perjury, forgery, and it can only amount to one thing—criminal action. You can all go to jail for that,” Duterte said.
“Nakikiusap ako sa mga u**l na ‘to, kung sino ‘yung gumagawa ng ganoon, puwede ba sabihin ko sa inyo na do not [mess with] the people of the Philippines? Magkagulo tayo.”
(I am begging these i****s, whoever did that, can I tell you not to [mess with] the people of the Philippines? We will all go into chaos.)
“Kayong nasa bureaucracy, (Workers in the bureaucracy) you better stand up straight and be counted as a true Filipino. Otherwise, you are asking for your early demise. Pag nagcoup d’état ito, patay diyan baka una kayo. Ang ayaw ng sundalo, naghirap na nga sila para sa bayan tapos nanakawan pa sila ng pera, (If a coup d’état happens, then you guys would be the first to go. Soldiers do not like it when they are sacrificing for the country, and the people’s money are being stolen),” he said.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the P6.326-trillion national budget on December 30, where he directly vetoed over P194 billion worth of line items that are not consistent with his administration’s priorities, including some programs of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). — Jiselle Anne Casucian/VBL, GMA Integrated News
