Bato says bicam report on 2025 budget had blank items

Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa on Thursday said that there were blank items in the bicameral conference committee report on the 2025 national budget.

In an interview with GMA Integrated News, Dela Rosa said that conferees to the bicam were given a copy of the report the same day that it was signed.

"Same day ng pagpirma. Binigyan kami ng soft copy. Doon nakita namin na may mga blangko talaga," Dela Rosa said.

"Kumpleto talaga sa GAA (General Appropriations Act) dahil hindi naman ilalabas ang GAA kung walang mga numero doon. Sa bicam report, totoo rin na wala talagang laman 'yung ibang mga blangko," he added.

He cited as an example the budget for the Department of Agriculture, where he said he saw blank entries but the total amount for the agency was there.

"The blanks should have been filled out somewhere along the way," he said.

Dela Rosa is among the Senate conferees to the bicam on the 2025 national budget. He was present during the signing of the bicam report, but he did not sign the document.

His statement was consistent with Senator Imee Marcos' claim that there were blank items in the bicam report which is in contrast to the testimonies of five other senators who were also part of the bicam.

Marcos—who was part of the bicam on the 2025 national budget, but was absent during the signing of the report—insisted that there were indeed blank items in the report.

"Kagulat-gulat 'yung bicam, kung bakit nakalusot na may mga blangkong amounts," she said.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte  and Davao City 3rd District Representative Isidro Ungab recently 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.

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. last Monday said Duterte was lying about the supposed discrepancies in the 2025 national budget.

Malacañang also denounced the allegations made by Duterte, saying that the allegations made should be dismissed as ''criminal.''

Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero on Wednesday also refuted allegations about the blank items.

Asked if the bicameral conference committee report that Escudero signed had blank items, the Senate President said, "wala [none]."

"Hindi tama na mag-akusang may blank check na binigay ang Kongreso, mali yun. Kasinungalingan yun at hindi totoo yun," Escudero said.—LDF, GMA Integrated News