Duterte presses Marcos over SC budget ruling

Vice President Sara Duterte has called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and members of Congress to account for budget provisions recently declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, saying the ruling vindicated her earlier warnings about irregularities in the national budget process.

In a statement last week, Duterte thanked the high court for striking down provisions in the 2024 and 2025 national budgets, as well as an additional allocation under the 2026 national budget.

The Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a ₱449.5-billion increase in the 2024 unprogrammed appropriations, a nearly ₱18-billion increase in the 2025 Special Road Fund, and an additional ₱12.57 billion under the 2026 national budget’s general fund.

“Tama ang aking babala noong 2024 — na pinatunayan na rin ng desisyon ng Korte Suprema — na hindi na ginagawa ng Bicameral Conference Committee o Bicam ang trabaho nito,” Duterte said.

She accused the bicameral conference committee, composed of members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, of becoming a “stamping pad” for Malacañang’s preferences instead of properly reconciling differences between the two chambers’ versions of the budget.

Duterte also questioned why Marcos signed a national budget that she said differed significantly from the administration’s own National Expenditure Program.

“Dapat niyang sagutin kung bakit niya nilagdaan ang isang badyet na hindi naman tumutugma sa panukala ng kanyang sariling administrasyon,” she said.

The vice president further accused the administration of using public funds for political interests and urged Marcos and lawmakers to answer for the alleged misuse of money intended to improve Filipinos’ lives.

Malacañang, meanwhile, has said the administration would ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling through the Office of the Solicitor General.

Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said the executive branch had followed a practice dating back to 2015 that allows excess tax collections to be used for unprogrammed appropriations.

The planned appeal could bring the administration’s position back before the high court as the dispute over the challenged budget provisions continues.