Philippines' Marcos May Face Charges Over Unconstitutional National Budgets, Lawmaker Says

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) An activist lawmaker believes Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr should be held accountable for“signing unlawful national budgets” in the last three years.

“There were many authors and proponents of the unconstitutional budgets in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, but there is no debate on who their implementers were: Marcos and his Cabinet,” said ACT Teachers party-list representative Antonio Tinio.

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The Philippine Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday declared portions of the country's national government budgets since 2024“unconstitutional,” noting Congress had illegally inflated allocations for many infrastructure projects, some of which were later believed to have been stolen.

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The country's highest judicial body declared portions of the budgets unconstitutional, citing P449.5 billion (Dh26.4 billion) in unprogrammed funds inserted into the 2024 budget and P17.99 billion (Dh1.05 billion) in additional allocations for the construction of so-called special roads in the 2025 national budget. The SC also invalidated specific special provisions of the 2026 budget, including the P12.75 billion (Dh750 million) increase in“special accounts” as“unconstitutional lump-sum appropriation with post-enactment executive discretion.”

Tinio said the Court's decision clearly identifies Marcos as the approving authority for flood control projects funded under unprogrammed appropriations.

“The abuse and excesses that enabled the flood control corruption scandal could only happen because of the give-and-take, the tacit cooperation, and the division of spoils among the legislature and Malacañang when it comes to the budget, which is the essence of the pork barrel system,” Tinio explained.

Why was it 'unconstitutional'?

The authors, proposers, or implementers of the unconstitutional items may face civil, criminal, or administrative charges if they acted in bad faith, the SC decision said.

The Court affirmed the prohibition imposed by the 1987 Philippine Constitution against Congress increasing the total budget recommended by the President. Congress may reduce both specific and total amounts but not the combined sum of so-called“programmed and unprogrammed appropriations”, usually allocated by politicians for pet projects.

Representatives and senators insert amounts for infrastructure projects in their districts, many of which were eventually found to be“substandard” or“phantom” due to kickbacks.

Makabayan lawmakers

Three progressive legislators voted against both the 2024 and 2025 budgets. They also refused to accept pork barrel funds from the President, believing the practice is one of the worst kinds of corruption in a system and government widely regarded as“very corrupt” by citizens and groups such as Transparency International.

Vindicated by the SC decision were members of the Makabayan Coalition - ACT Teachers Party, Gabriela Women's Party, and Kabataan Youth Party. At the time of the budget deliberations, these were represented by Tinio's predecessor France Castro, Arlene Brosas, and Raoul Manuel, respectively.

In the 2024 GAA ratification, the three former representatives registered their“no” votes, citing concerns over huge allocations for unprogrammed funds, confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs), and insufficient funding for social services and public utility sectors.

In the 2025 GAA ratification, they again opposed the report, criticising the sudden increase in unprogrammed appropriations, lack of transparency in bicameral insertions, and reduced budgets for critical sectors like education and health.

The three activist political parties again voted against the proposed 2027 national budget, citing questionable insertions amid ongoing corruption investigations.

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