The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) will seek clarification from the Supreme Court on its ruling declaring parts of the 2024 and 2025 national budgets unconstitutional, Budget Secretary Kim Robert de Leon said Thursday.
De Leon said the agency is reviewing the ruling with the Office of the Solicitor General to determine how it will affect government spending.
“Over the past two nights, the DBM-EXECOM has been carefully reviewing the Supreme Court's decision to assess not only its legal but also the fiscal, technical, and operational implications and to determine the appropriate next steps.”
He further noted the DBM is checking unreleased funds, unused budget allocations and unpaid government obligations.
“We are discussing and probably this is one of the items as mentioned by the Office of the Solicitor General that we will be seeking clarification from the Supreme Court because there are a lot of operational issues that may arise from this.”
Sen. Imee Marcos raised concerns about the release of funds covered by the ruling, including a ₱449.5 billion in unprogrammed appropriations and ₱17.99 billion for the Special Road Fund.
Marcos said the government should avoid releasing the affected funds until the Supreme Court clarifies its decision.
“Dapat mag-ingat tayo doon. I think it's unquestionable that the increases cited by the Supreme Court cannot bear further releases at this point until we get clarity.”
De Leon confirmed that the increased allocation for the 2025 Special Road Fund has not been released.
“We confirm that there are unreleased portion of the Special Road Fund for 2025. The covered increased amount mentioned in the decision remains unreleased.”
He also said the agency would no longer release the remaining unprogrammed appropriations for 2024 because their validity expired in December 2025.
The department reported that ₱531.374 billion had been released from the 2024 budget's programmed appropriations. However, De Leon said officials still need to determine how much of that amount falls under the provisions affected by the ruling.
De Leon said they will submit a breakdown of the releases to the Senate and coordinate with the Solicitor General on the next steps.
