3rd petition vs. 2025 national budget filed with SC

A third petition seeking to declare the 2025 national budget as void was filed with the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday.

The petitioners asked the SC to issue a writ of certiorari and declare Republic Act 12116 or the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2025 as void for being in violation of Section 5(5), Article XIV of the 1987 Constitution.

They are the Teachers Dignity Coalition, represented by its chairperson Benjo Basas;  the Freedom from Debt Coalition, represented by its Secretary-General Rovik Obanil; and the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, represented by its Secretary-General Edgardo Cabalitan Jr.

“Ang ginawa nila lalabas parang fiscal dictatorship, no? Ang nakasaad sa Saligang Batas… the education sector should get the biggest, the highest budgetary allotment. Hindi po nasunod ‘yan,” lawyer Aaron Pedrosa, the counsel of the petitioners, said in an ambush interview.

(What they did seems like a form of fiscal dictatorship, right? The Constitution states that the education sector should receive the biggest, the highest budgetary allotment. That was not followed.)

“Ang ginawa ay creative budgeting para ipalabas na malaki ang budget ng education,” he added.

(What they did was creative budgeting to make it appear that the education budget is large.)

The petitioners also asked the SC for a writ of prohibition directing the respondents from enforcing or implementing the GAA and prohibiting them from disbursing public funds.

Aside from this, they asked for a temporary restraining order enjoining the respondents from implementing the GAA.

The respondents are President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, the Senate of the Philippines, and the House of Representatives.

For his part, Basas said the highest budget allocation went to the Department of Public Works and Highways.

“Inikutan ito ng ating gobyerno, inikutan, sinabi nila na mataas ‘yung budget ng edukasyon dahil isinama ‘yung iba’t ibang mga ahensya na, traditionally, hindi naman kasali sa education sector,” Basas said.

(Our government found a way around this, claiming that the education budget is high by including various agencies that traditionally are not part of the education sector.)

Meanwhile, Obanil said that the government already has a P16.31 trillion national debt, but the budget allocation doesn’t seem to be right.

“Lumalaki nang lumalaki ‘ang ating pagkakautang pero tila hindi ‘yata tama ‘yung ating prayoritisasyon ng paggugol doon sa mga inuutang natin na budge na ‘yan,” he said.

(Our national debt keeps growing, but it seems our prioritization of how we spend these borrowed funds is not quite right.)

For his part, Cabalitan said that the right to education is a human right.

“Kung talagang may pagpapahalaga sa karapatang pantao ang pamahalaang BBM, ayon sa kanyang postura sa international, ay kailangan niya patunayan ito sa pamamagitan pa lamang simula nung kanyang pag papa-prioritize nito,” he said.

(If the BBM administration truly values human rights, as it says on the international stage, it must prove this by prioritizing them from the very beginning.)

The first petition was filed in January 2025 by petitioners former executive secretary and senatorial aspirant Vic Rodriguez, Davao City 3rd District Representative Isidro Ungab, Rogelio Mendoza, Benito Ching Jr., Redemberto Villanueva, Roseller dela Peña, Santos Catubay, and Dominic Solis.

They asked the SC to declare the GAA as unconstitutional amid alleged irregularities and supposed blank items in the bicameral conference committee report.

The SC has set the oral arguments for the petition in May. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News

Meanwhile, the second petition was filed by the 1Sambayan Coalition, Sanlakas, Advocates for National Interest, and other individuals last week.

They sought a TRO against the implementation of the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) and asked the court to declare as partially unconstitutional some provisions in the GAA. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News