Palace: Rodrigo Duterte peddling fake news on 2025 budget

Malacañang on Monday denounced the allegations made by former President Rodrigo Duterte regarding the alleged ''discrepancies'' in the 2025 national budget, saying that the allegations made should be dismissed as ''criminal.''

In a press statement, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said Duterte and other individuals' move was an act of peddling misinformation.

''Some quarters, including a former president, have maliciously peddled fake news about President Marcos having signed the GAA (General Appropriations Act) of 2025 with certain parts of the enactment purposely left blank to enable the administration to simply fill in the amounts like in a blank check,'' Bersamin said.

''The peddling of such fake news is outrightly malicious and should be condemned as criminal. No page of the 2025 National Budget was left unturned before the president signed it into law,'' he added.

Bersamin stressed that all of the 4,057 pages of the P6.326-trillion budget's two thick volumes were exhaustively reviewed by hundreds of professional staff from Congress and the Department of Budget and Management.

''This meticulous line-by-line scrutiny is a pre-enactment check performed by dedicated civil servants to ensure that the GAA contained no single discrepancy in the amounts being appropriated,'' Bersamin said.

It is impossible for any funding items to be left blank, as alleged by misinformed and malicious sources, according to Bersamin.

GMA News Online contacted the Duterte camp, in particular, former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo, and Davao City 3rd District Representative Isidro Ungab for comment on the remarks made by Palace.

In response, Panelo said Duterte’s remarks were based on the validity of Ungab’s findings plus on the assumption that the GAB (General Appropriations Bill) as signed into law by PBBM contains the same omissions.  

“Hence, FPRRD is sayin IF as charged by Ungab, the GAA was signed with infirmities, then those responsible could go to jail,” he explained. 

The former president was expressing a legal opinion on the assumption that Ungab’s charges are true and “if the GAB as signed by PBBM contains the same irregularities,” he said. 

Panelo also said the media should examine the documents to determine the truth. 

DBM: Bill submitted was complete

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) categorically denied the allegations made by Duterte and Ungab, calling it as completely false and reckless. The DBM said what was presented by the two was the Bicameral Conference committee report.

''What has been presented by certain misinformed individuals are pages from the Bicameral Conference (Bicam) Committee Report, and NOT the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) nor the GAA,'' the DBM said.

''It is important to note that, under the 1987 Constitution, it is the Bill — the GAB, and NOT the Bicam Report, that is officially submitted for the consideration, and approval or veto of the President,'' it added.

It stressed that the Bill presented to and signed by the President was ''a complete document, with no blank pages or missing details. In no case does the Executive issue a GAA with blank pages or figures.''

The DBM then urged Filipinos to be mindful, cautious, and to first verify information before making any allegations.

''Clear and accurate understanding is critical for constructive dialogue. We kindly appeal to our kababayans to avoid spreading false information; communication is a powerful tool that can make or break a nation. Let us use it to promote unity and understanding, and not to sow discord, hatred, and division,'' the DBM said.

Duterte and Ungab flagged supposed discrepancies in the bicameral conference committee report on the national budget, with Ungab saying that there were missing budget amounts for items under the Department of Agriculture and unprogrammed appropriations.

Ungab said the blanks could not be considered a typographical, grammatical, or printing error.

Duterte, for his part, said the budget items should not be left empty to be filled up later on. According to the former president, anyone who tampered with the budget could face criminal prosecution.

Meanwhile, Bersamin said the facts and the printed figures appearing in the GAA easily ''debunk the malicious claims of deliberate blanks being left for filling in.''

''Anyone who conducts the same rigorous examination of the 2025 National Budget — which the public can view on the DBM website — will come to the same conclusion: that there is no program, activity, or project at all with blank appropriations in that carefully vetted law,'' Bersamin pointed out.

Bersamin said Duterte and his cohorts should know better that the GAA could not contain blank items.

To recall, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the P6.326-trillion national budget on December 30, 2024, where he directly vetoed over P194 billion worth of line items that are not consistent with his administration's priorities.

His vetoed items included some programs of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

READ: Marcos removes P16.7B worth of flood control projects in 2025 budget

Since last week, Marcos had been conducting reviews of the budget of departments and agencies to look for ways to restore the funds of some of their projects. —KG/AOL, GMA Integrated News