BBM review of 2025 budget almost done - Palace

President Marcos is nearly finished with his review of the 2025 national budget, which he is expected to rid of certain provisions, particularly what he deemed were unexplained "insertions" and cuts in some key agencies.

- By HELEN FLORES

The President is set to sign the proposed P6.352-trillion budget bill for 2025 on Dec. 30.

"Almost done. And the budget message too," Presidential Communications Office Secretary Cesar Chavez told reporters yesterday when asked for updates on the ongoing review of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), ratified by Congress on Dec. 11.

The budget message usually contains the President's explanation of any changes made to the Congress-approved appropriations.

Marcos delayed the enactment of the 2025 spending bill following calls for scrapping of items considered unconstitutional, including the inserted hefty increase in the funding for public works, which was bigger than that for education.

The education sector must be given the highest budget priority under the Constitution. The GAB was initially scheduled to be signed by the President on Dec. 20.

Malacañang has assured the public that the 2025 budget would be compliant with the Constitution.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Thursday said the President and his Cabinet would thoroughly review the GAA "with or without the calls... to make them conform to the Constitution, and to see to it that the budget prioritizes the main legacy thrusts of the administration."

Bersamin said the President has been "most prudent in programming and spending of our limited fiscal resources."

Marcos' sister Sen. Imee Marcos was among those who criticized the spending bill passed by Congress.

The senator had pointed out that the P1.113-trillion public works budget was higher than the overall P925-billion allocation for basic, higher and technical vocation education.

The senator, who labeled the proposed budget as "very very bad," stressed that the public works outlay should be slashed by at least P188 billion to make it compliant with the 1987 Constitution.