Senatorial aspirant and former executive secretary Vic Rodriguez on Tuesday accused the Marcos administration of lying and misusing public funds, particularly about the 2025 national budget.
In a live video on Facebook, Rodriguez denounced the 2025 national budget as “illegal, invalid, immoral, unconstitutional, and criminal,” and alleged that the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. of political maneuvering through budget allocations.
“Tama po yung narinig ninyo: itinakda na po ng SC ang oral argument para dito sa kasong sinampa natin. Matatandaan po ninyo, naghain ng petition for certiorari and prohibition sa SC upang isang tabi i-declare na null and void at unconstitutional. itong ating isinasalarawan na ilegal, invalid, immoral, unconstitutional, and criminal 2025 national budget,” Rodriguez stated.
(You heard it right: the Supreme Court has scheduled the oral argument for the case we filed. You may recall that we filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition before the Supreme Court to set aside and declare null and void and unconstitutional what we describe as the illegal, invalid, immoral, unconstitutional, and criminal 2025 national budget.)
He noted that the mere fact that the Supreme Court has scheduled an oral argument “is already a victory.”
GMA News Online has reached out to the Palace for comment.
Once a close ally of the President, Rodriguez was Marcos’s campaign spokesperson and chief of staff and was appointed executive secretary when Marcos took office in June 2022. He served in this capacity until he stepped down in September of the same year. Two months later, Marcos’s party expelled Rodriguez from its ranks. He has since become a critic of the President, saying he left because he could no longer stomach alleged corruption.
In January, he was among those who filed a petition before the Supreme Court to declare the 2025 national budget unconstitutional.
Budget ‘blanks’
During the live session, Rodriguez highlighted several grounds for questioning the national budget, including the alleged irregularities in the bicameral conference committee report, and claimed that the final approved budget contained 28 blank items amounting to P241 billion.
“Napatunayan natin na ang nagsisinungaling ay ang Malacañang. Napatunayan natin na ang malisyoso ay ang Malacañang. Napatunayan natin na ang fake news ay ang Malacañang. Sinabi nila noon na walang blangko, ito na ho umuusad na ang kaso,” he said.
(We have proven that Malacañang is the one lying. We have proven that Malacañang is the one being malicious. We have proven that Malacañang is the source of fake news. They previously said there were no blank items, but now the case is moving forward.)
He said the bicameral committee reportedly altered the National Expenditure Program (NEP) beyond recognition, violating the constitutional limits of Congress’s power to modify the Executive Department’s proposed budget.
Citing Article VI, Section 25, Rodriguez argued that Congress exceeded its power by increasing the budget beyond what was initially proposed by the Executive Department. He also pointed to Article XIV, Sections 1 and 5, asserting that the budget’s prioritization of infrastructure over education directly violates the constitutional mandate to allocate the highest budget to the education sector.
He also said significant portions of the budget have already been released despite pending legal questions.
“Nakakatakot po ito sapagkat April 1 pa ang oral argument. Kasi nagmamadali ang Marcos administration dahil wala pong developmental budget itong 2025. Itong 2025 budget na ipinasa ng Bongbong Marcos administration na ilegal ay punong-puno ng pamumulitika. Ito na-release po nila para sa kanilang pet projects o pork barrel, tangan-tangan ang tinatawag na program appropriation. Kaya nakakatakot,” he said.
(This is alarming because the oral argument is still scheduled for April 1. The Marcos administration is rushing because the 2025 budget has no developmental allocation. The 2025 budget passed by the Bongbong Marcos administration, which is illegal, is full of political maneuvering. They have already released it for their pet projects or pork barrel, holding on to what they call program appropriation. That’s why this is concerning.)
He said that, along with other petitioners, they will discuss what they can do for the time being between now and April 1, and they will also work on issuing the subpoena.
“Subpoena-han ang House Bills and Index Service para ilabas ang enrolled bill at subpoena-han ang House Bills and Index Service para ilabas ang General Appropriations Bill. Mahalaga kasing mai-produce ito bago pa magkaroon ng oral argument para makapaghanda rin ang ating abogado,” he said.
(A subpoena will be issued to the House Bills and Index Service to release the enrolled bill, and another subpoena will be issued to the House Bills and Index Service to release the General Appropriations Bill. These must be produced before the oral argument so our lawyer can also prepare.)
Education crisis, budget misallocation
Rodriguez also pointed to serious issues in the Philippine education system due to budget mismanagement based on findings from the 2nd Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2).
These include classroom shortages, lack of learning materials, and the growing number of out-of-school youth.
Rodriguez accused the Marcos administration of underfunding education while increasing allocations to infrastructure projects, in direct contradiction to constitutional provisions ensuring quality education for all.
“Ito po ang mga lumabas na sakit ng ating edukasyon sector. Ano ginawa ni Bongbong Marcos? Mas malaki ang binigay nilang budget sa public works kaysa sa edukasyon sector,” he said.
(These are the issues that have emerged in our education sector. What did Bongbong Marcos do? They allocated a larger budget to public works than to the education sector.)
“Kaawa-awa kalunus-lunus ang estado ng ating edukasyon. Binawasan pa nila ng P31 billion. Labag po yan sa ating saligang batas, article 14, section 5. Kaya sana umabot itong ating public discourse sa ating mga kagalanggalang na mahistrato sa SC. Sana mag-issue sila ng temporary restraining order at i-considera nila itong findings ng EDCOM 2. Kalunus-lunus ang estado ng ating public education system,” he added.
(The state of our education is pitiful and deplorable. They even cut P31 billion from it. This is against our constitution, Article 14, Section 5. I hope our public discourse reaches our honorable justices in the Supreme Court. I hope they issue a temporary restraining order and consider the findings of EDCOM 2. The state of our public education system is truly tragic.) — BM, GMA Integrated News
