‘Let SC decide on issue of unprogrammed funds’

FORMER senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson yesterday said a clarification from the Supreme Court (SC) is needed to determine if Congress is allowed to increase the unprogrammed appropriations in the annual national budget prepared by the executive branch.

Lacson made the statement after President Marcos Jr. signed the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) on Wednesday without vetoing the supposedly bloated unprogrammed funds.

“If not clarified by a Supreme Court’s interpretation of Article VI, Section 25 of the 1987 Constitution, what can prevent Congress from adding P1 trillion or even more in the next succeeding budget deliberations?” Lacson asked, adding: “So, we borrow more to fund the excess in the unprogrammed funds under the NEP. Needless to say, this is a very bad precedent.”

Section 25, Article 6 of the 1987 Constitution states that “Congress may not increase the appropriations recommended by the President for the operation of the government as specified in the budget.”

Lacson said Congress must be stopped from continuing its practice of hiking the unprogrammed appropriations, as he recalled that in the 2022 budget, “Congress managed to realign to the unprogrammed appropriations under the Special Purpose Fund the amount of P100 billion, while under the 2023 GAA, they realigned a total of P219 billion to the unprogrammed appropriations.”

He said lawmakers have developed “the new penchant for realigning the budget to and from the unprogrammed appropriations to fund their pet projects.”

Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III has earlier questioned the P455 billion insertion made by lawmakers during the bicameral conference committee discussions to iron out the differing provisions between the House and Senate versions of the proposed national budget.

Pimentel said from P281.9 billion in the National Expenditures Program (NEP), the unprogrammed appropriations was bloated to P731.4 billion in the final version of next year’s budget bill.

Lacson and Pimentel have urged the President Marcos to veto the inserted amount in the unprogrammed appropriations.

Pimentel said a study is now being conducted by his office to determine what legal actions they may take on