SC postpones oral arguments on petition vs. 2025 national budget

The Supreme Court has postponed the oral arguments on the petition challenging the constitutionality of the 2025 General Appropriations Act after it granted the motion for consolidation and resetting filed by the Office of the Solicitor General.

The oral arguments were originally set for May 19 to discuss the petition filed by former executive secretary Vic Rodriguez to declare unconstitutional the P6.326 trillion national budget for this year.

In a notice dated May 6, the SC said the oral arguments would be held at "a later date, subject to further notice from the Court."

The SC said the motion for consolidation and resetting filed by the OSG prayed that the Court order the consolidation of Rodriguez’s petition and those filed by the 1Sambayan Coalition and Teacher’s Dignity Coalition and reset the oral arguments to May 27 or to any later date.

Further, the OSG also filed a motion requesting clarification on whether Senator Grace Poe and Marikina Representative Stella Quimbo will attend the oral arguments as chairpersons of the Senate Finance Committee and House Committee on Appropriations, respectively, or as resource persons only.

Aside from Rodriguez, the other petitioners are Davao City 3rd District Representative Isidro Ungab, Rogelio Mendoza, Benito Ching Jr., Redemberto Villanueva, Roseller dela Peña, Santos Catubay, and Dominic Solis.

The petitioners alleged that the GAA failed to provide mandatory funding for PhilHealth, unlawfully hiked appropriations beyond the President’s proposed budget, and prioritized infrastructure spending over education. 

They also questioned the blank items in the bicameral conference committee report. —VBL, GMA Integrated News