Lucas Bersamin —File photo from the House of Representatives
jili slot jackpotMANILA, Philippines — Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Friday maintained that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. did not sign the 2025 national budget despite blank spaces, saying they strongly resented such allegations.
In a press conference, Bersamin was asked whether Marcos had anything to do with the “blank checks.”
Article continues after this advertisementREAD: Marcos denies ‘blank’ GAA items, says Duterte ‘lying’
FEATURED STORIES NEWSINFO Hontiveros: Give revised anti-teen pregnancy bill a fair chance NEWSINFO Bersamin defends Marcos against allegations of signing blank check NEWSINFO In Basilan, 2 dead as MILF fighters ambush soldiers“We resented so much ‘yung impression that the President was given a blank check. We had nothing to do with that; it’s an internal matter within Congress. That’s why we respect the boundaries by not commenting on who should be blamed or not,” Bersamin responded.
“But I’m sure that we did not benefit at all from the blank spaces that are being peddled around. That’s why we’re saying it’s fake news because they’re accusing the President of filling them in. Even if that is not what they said, that is the impression they want to give to the public, which is very wrong, very malicious,” he added.
Article continues after this advertisement“Blank items” from the bicameral conference committee (Bicam) report, not the General Appropriations Act (GAA)
Article continues after this advertisementMeanwhile, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman also reiterated in the briefing that the Bicam report had the purported blank items.
“Nearly 3 billion people and more than half of the world’s food production are now in areas where total water storage is projected to decline,” said the report by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW).
Article continues after this advertisementA Bicam report is the reconciled version of the House of Representatives and Senate’s respective General Appropriations Bill.
This bill then becomes the GAA, or the actual national budget, once signed by Marcos.
Article continues after this advertisementREAD: Escudero: ‘No blank items on 2025 national budget I signed’
However, in a press conference on Wednesday, Senate President Francis Escudero also maintained that the bicam report on the national budget for 2025 that he signed had no blank items.
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He likewise noted that he does not know about the circulating copy of a bicam report for the 2025 national funding supposedly showing blank items.rich ph
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