President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. strongly denied the claim made by former president Rodrigo Duterte that there were irregularities in the 2025 national budget.
The President stated that the national budget is publicly available for review and scrutiny on the Department of Budget and Management’s website.
Marcos argued that Duterte, as a former president, should know that it is impossible for discrepancies to exist in the national budget.
“He’s lying. He’s a president, he knows that you cannot pass a GAA without any — with a blank… He’s lying,” Marcos said.
“And he’s lying because he knows perfectly well that that doesn’t ever happen. Sa buong kasaysayan ng buong Pilipinas, hindi pinapayagan na magkaroon ng item ang GAA ng hindi nakalagay kung ano ‘yung project at saka ano ‘yung gastos, ano ‘yung pondo. So, it’s a lie,” he added.
On Monday, Malacañang also refuted the claims, calling these allegations “criminal.”
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said the accusations made by the former president and others were attempts to spread 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.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) supported the President’s denial, stating that the former president’s claims were entirely false.
“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.