Gatchalian, Villanueva assert: No blank items in 2025 budget

MANILA, Philippines — Two senators said on Tuesday it was not possible for certain items in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) to be left blank, as doing so would cause an imbalance in the national budget bill.

Speaking to reporters in an ambush interview, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said the chairman of finance would not sign the bill if it had missing provisions.

His remarks came after he was asked to comment on former President Rodrigo Duterte’s allegation that some items in the 2025 GAA were left blank, as the amounts were supposedly meant to be filled out at the behest of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his close associates.

READ: Marcos slams Duterte ‘lies’ on items in budget law

“If it’s left blank, it won’t be balanced. The budget needs to be balanced. For example, the House amendments, the Senate amendments, and of course, the final product, the GAA, must all be balanced. What I’m thinking is, if it’s blank, it won’t be balanced; that’s number one,” said Gatchalian partly in Filipino.

He was then pressed to answer whether some items could not be left blank.

“As far as I know, the chairman cannot sign a blank document. When I was chairman of another committee, whenever a committee report was submitted to me, I would read it thoroughly, even the very annexes, to make sure everything was complete. I believe that the chairman would not sign a blank document,” he explained.

Gatchalian then stood his ground, stating that he and his team did not see a single blank item in the 2025 budget bill.

Meanwhile, in a separate ambush interview, Sen. Joel Villanueva echoed Gatchalian’s remarks.

“I’ve never heard of any blank bicam report. I’ve never heard anything like that, and it’s kind of weird every time I hear people talking about the constitutionality of such a committee report because when you question the constitutionality of such a measure, it’s the law itself, not the report,” said Villanueva.

When asked if he had seen any blank items in the 2025 budget bill, he firmly replied that he had not.

“I haven’t seen any. To my knowledge, there are none,” said Villanueva.

“It’s hard to believe that it’s blank because it wouldn’t tally, and at the same time, that law can’t be passed with blanks. That’s my perspective,” he added.

Earlier, President Marcos himself refuted the allegations made by Duterte surrounding the 2025 budget.

“He’s lying. He’s a [former] president, he knows that you cannot pass a GAA with a blank,” he told reporters after the launch of the Tesla Center Philippines.