MANILA – The move to challenge the constitutionality of the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) before the Supreme Court (SC) is a deliberate attempt to destabilize the government, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said Thursday.
This, as Marcos admitted that there is no contingency plan, in case the SC rules in favor of the petition.
“No, we shut down everything. I guess that’s what they want, they want the government to cease working so ‘yung matuloy yung kanilang mga destabilization na ginagawa (their destabilization efforts will continue),” he told reporters in Lapu-Lapu City, when asked if the government has a contingency plan, in case the 2025 national budget is declared unconstitutional.
Marcos said Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, on behalf of the Philippine government, would be the one to answer the petition questioning the legality of the 2025 national budget.
“The SolGen, of course, will be the one who will argue for the government, and he tells me, SolGen Meynard tells me that we are on a solid footing in terms of constitutionality,” Marcos said.
“I don’t know why they bother to file that because napakahirap ng kanilang assertion (their assertion is very difficult [to defend])… We’re very confident that our case is strong,” he added.
Davao City 3rd Rep. Isidro Ungab, former executive secretary Vic Rodriguez, and other former government officials have filed a petition questioning the constitutionality of certain provisions in the 2025 GAA.
The petitioners claimed that the alleged “blank items” in the bicameral report for the 2025 national budget “undermine transparency and accountability in the budget process.”
Guevarra, who represents the government in legal proceedings, said he would make the argument before the SC, if directed to do so.
He stressed that in the meantime, the validity, regularity and constitutionality of the 2025 GAA is “legally presumed.” (PNA)