Lawmakers hail Supreme Court ruling voiding billions in budget items

The logo of the Supreme Court at the Supreme Court Building in Manila.

Philstar.com / Ian Laqui

MANILA, Philippines — Lawmakers have welcomed the Supreme Court's ruling declaring key provisions of the 2024, 2025 and 2026 General Appropriations Acts (GAA) unconstitutional, describing the decision as a decisive victory for public accountability.

The high court’s 121-page decision, released to the press on October 20, invalidated congressional increases totaling P449.5 billion in 2024 unprogrammed appropriations, a P17.99-billion addition to the 2025 Special Road Fund, and key provisions governing 2026 standby funds.

The court ruled that Congress committed a grave abuse of discretion by exceeding the constitutional cap on the executive’s total recommended appropriations.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson lauded the ruling's timing as the Senate prepares to review the House version of the 2027 General Appropriations Bill.

"One good thing about the Supreme Court ruling is its timing. It couldn’t have come at a better time when the House version of the 2027 General Appropriations Bill is undergoing scrutiny by the Senate," Lacson said.

Lacson, who was not a member of the Senate when the 2024 and 2025 national budgets were passed, warned of imminent friction between the two legislative chambers as the Senate addresses "red flags" in the proposed 2027 spending plan.

He indicated that the Senate may restore hundreds of billions of pesos in cuts and realignments introduced by the House, particularly regarding Foreign-Assisted Projects (FAPs) and flood control allocations.

Describing the ruling's historical impact, Lacson asserted that the 2024 and 2025 national budgets would "go down in history as the worst budgets ever passed by Congress," comparing their invalidation to the Supreme Court's landmark decision striking down the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) under the 2013 GAA.

On the immediate practical consequences of the decision, Lacson clarified that funds remaining unspent may no longer be disbursed, while those already expended cannot be invalidated retroactively.

Sen. Leila de Lima, who served as a co-petitioner in the consolidated legal challenges against the 2026 unprogrammed appropriations, hailed the ruling as a major triumph in curbing fiscal abuse.

"This decision of the Supreme Court is a warning to those who conspire and plan to abuse Unprogrammed Appropriations for personal and political interests," De Lima said in Filipino.

"Starting with the 2022 GAA, the unprogrammed funds were growing out of control. It became a holding area for pork, where lawmakers could park projects, create artificial fiscal space, and redirect hundreds of billions to their pet allocations. The Supreme Court has closed that backdoor,” she added.