President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. responded to the groups challenging the constitutionality of the 2025 budget, claiming their actions are part of a destabilization effort aimed at shutting down the government to push their agenda. Despite the ongoing legal challenges, the President expressed his confidence that the national budget would stand up to scrutiny.
During a press briefing in Cebu, Marcos stated that the administration has no contingency plans in case the Supreme Court deems the P6.326 trillion national budget unconstitutional. He expressed that he believes critics aim to halt government operations for their destabilization goals, adding, “No, we shut down everything. I guess that’s what they want. They want the government to cease working so they can continue with their destabilization.”
Marcos questioned the validity of critics’ concerns regarding “difficult” assertions in the budget, noting that the Solicitor General is confident the budget is constitutionally sound. “The SolGen… tells me that we are on a solid footing in terms of constitutionality,” he said, reiterating that the Solicitor General will present the argument before the Supreme Court. “We are very confident that our case is strong,” he added.
This comes after Davao City Representative Isidro Ungab and former executive secretary Vic Rodriguez raised issues over alleged discrepancies in the bicameral conference committee report for the 2025 budget, particularly blank amounts in the agriculture department and unprogrammed appropriations. Ungab, supported by former president Rodrigo Duterte, argued that these gaps made the national budget invalid.
Ungab and Rodriguez filed a petition with the Supreme Court to declare the 2025 General Appropriations Act unconstitutional, citing the blank items and the lack of allocated funds for education, which is mandated by the Constitution.
In response, Marcos assured that the budget law is complete and does not contain any blanks. “I had to read 4,057 pages of the General Appropriations Act for 2025. I reviewed it, analyzed it, and yes—in parts vetoed it,” Marcos emphasized. “For those of you and up to now I cannot find those damned blank items… I’m convinced that they simply do not exist because it is not allowed to exist.”
Marcos also noted that he vetoed P194 billion worth of items in the spending bill to ensure alignment with the government’s priorities.
