00:00Some senators insisted that the 2025 National Budget is a complete and unambiguous issue in politics
00:10and that it is close to the election, possibly for whatever reason,
00:14in the upcoming elections against the Pambansang Fondo.
00:19Daniel Manalastas was at the center of the news.
00:23Senate President Francis Escudero answered some of the speculations regarding the 2025 National Budget
00:29after some questioned its bicameral conference committee report
00:33and after some allegations of blank items.
00:36Escudero said that the General Appropriations Act is complete.
00:39There are no blanks or deficiencies.
00:41It is not right to accuse someone of having a blank check given by the Congress.
00:45That is wrong.
00:46Because that is a lie and it is not true.
00:49And if it is a blank check, it cannot be released by the DBM.
00:54It cannot be released by the National Treasury.
00:57If there is a typographical error in the enrolled bill,
01:00let's say there is a blank line that says Project ABCDE
01:05or Calle or Road ABCDE without an amount,
01:08it cannot be released.
01:10The amount is written by anyone.
01:12It does not need to be declared unconstitutional.
01:15It will be considered as an error.
01:17Escudero's motives in the issues can be seen.
01:20The election is near.
01:22The color of politics is too bright for now.
01:25And maybe in the next few days,
01:27let's not be surprised by additional stories,
01:32attacks, or criticisms like this
01:35because it seems like they have already lined up
01:39who is on the left, who is on the right, who is on the red, and who is on the white.
01:43Senator Joel Villanueva was accused of not seeing a blank check in the BICAM report.
01:48I am not happy with the GA.
01:50So why would I lie?
01:51I mean, shouldn't I say, yes, that's right.
01:54I will not pay because it is a blank check.
01:56No, I did not see a blank check.
01:58I did not see it like that.
02:00There are a lot.
02:01I have seen a lot of people now who are protesting.
02:03It's like a glaring for someone who would sign that.
02:06For Senator Arisa Contevero,
02:08even though there are people who do not like her in the budget,
02:11she was also accused of not seeing a blank item in the budget.
02:14It is also difficult to say that the 2025 national budget will not have a visa
02:18because of the implication that there will be a re-enacted budget.
02:22I was often interpellated by the budgets of other departments and agencies,
02:28not the budgets sponsored by me.
02:31Until the last BICAM meeting that I attended,
02:35I did not see anything in the working drafts that we are working on
02:40as blank lines.
02:42Daniel Meranastas for Pambansang TV in Bagong, Philippines.
