SENATE President Francis “Chiz” Escudero dismissed concerns about potential legal repercussions for those involved in the passage of the 2025 national budget, which included blank items. He clarified that the document signed into law was the bicameral conference committee report, not the final law itself.
During a media briefing on Wednesday, January 22, 2025, Escudero emphasized that no individual has ever been charged in court for producing a committee report or a bicameral conference committee report. He further stated that while a law, such as the General Appropriations Act of 2025, can be declared invalid or unconstitutional, no such declaration has been made regarding any committee report.
“No bicameral conference committee report has yet been declared unconstitutional; no committee report has yet been declared unconstitutional. In fact, no one has yet been sued in court to declare a committee report or bicameral conference committee report unconstitutional,” Escudero told reporters. “It is only a law that can be questioned as unconstitutional,” he added.
Escudero’s comments come amidst ongoing scrutiny over the inclusion of blank items in the 2025 budget, which has raised concerns about transparency and accountability. However, the Senate President maintains that the legal process has been followed, and that any challenges to the budget must be directed at the law itself, not the committee reports that preceded it.
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