00:00Several lawmakers asked the country's economic managers if they were aware of the insertions made in the 2025 budget before it was signed by the President.
00:10This as the House of Representatives kicked off deliberations on the over 6.7 trillion peso 2026 budget proposal.
00:17At least three lawmakers raised this question during the House Committee on Appropriations briefing with the Development Budget Coordination Committee on Monday, August 18.
00:25They were referring to about 142.7 billion pesos in last-minute changes to the 2025 budget.
00:31These included splitting some projects into phases or moving some foreign-funded projects to the unprogrammed funds.
00:38Each time the question was asked, Department of Budget and Management Secretary, Amena Pangandaman, said they were not given a copy of the insertions before the 2025 budget bill was signed into law.
00:47Pangandaman and Finance Secretary Ralph Rector also reiterate, those types of amendments can only be done by Congress, and the executive branch only proposes and executes the budget.
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