It is a settled issue.
This was how President Marcos reacted about the deletion of confidential funds from the 2024 national budget which affects the Office of the Vice President and Department of Education (DepEd).
"Well, that was actually the initiative of the Vice President... I’m talking about the confidential funds and to not insist that they have such confidential fund," Marcos told Malacañang reporters in an interview in Tokyo, Japan on Monday, Dec.18.
"So, I think, as far as I’m concerned, it is a settled issue. The budget, I think, is very, very closely follows what our original NEP (national expenditure program) was," he added.
Vice President Sara Duterte is heading both departments.
The President further said that he is comfortable with how the budget turned out, adding that the government needs to work on the differential between the appropriated funds and the funds that have been collected thus far.
"I’m fairly comfortable with the way the budget has turned out. We just have to do a little work over the year to make sure that we cover the differential between the actual ---appropriated funds and the unappropriated funds that have been appropriated by Congress, by the House and the Senate," Marcos said.
The Chief Executive is scheduled to sign the national budget on Wednesday, Dec. 20.