PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will sign into law the proposed P6.352-trillion national budget for next year on Monday, avoiding the likelihood of a reenacted budget for the first few months of 2025.
Presidential Communications Secretary Cesar Chavez said the signing of the spending measure would coincide with the country’s commemoration of Rizal Day. The signing ceremony will be held in Malacañang at 9:30 a.m. Monday. Marcos deferred the signing of next year’s national budget because of a number of issues, including the “insertions” without appropriate documentation and the P12-billion cut in the outlay of the Department of Education.
The proposed 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) — ratified by Congress on Dec. 11 — was supposed to be enacted on Dec. 20.
Presidential Communications Secretary Cesar Chavez. PHOTO BY JOHN RYAN BALDEMOR
However, a “rigorous and exhaustive” review of the budget bill delayed the signing.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Thursday assured the public that the president would ensure the constitutionality of the proposed 2025 budget.
“The president and the cabinet are right now thoroughly reviewing the various items of the GAA to make them conform to the Constitution, and to see to it that the budget prioritizes the main legacy thrusts of the administration,” Bersamin said.
Section 25 (7), Article VI of the 1987 Constitution states that if by the end of any fiscal year Congress failed to pass the GAB for the ensuing year, the GAA for the preceding year shall be deemed reenacted and shall remain in force and in effect until the GAB is passed by Congress.
Fiscal years 2001, 2004, and 2006 all had reenacted budgets, according to the Department of Budget and Management.
There were also partial reenacted budgets in 2003, 2005, 2008, and 2009, the Budget department said.
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