The Supreme Court can declare the contentious Unprogrammed Appropriations as unconstitutional, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said on Tuesday, January 6.

Gatchalian made the remark following President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s decision to veto P92.5-billion unprogrammed items when he signed Republic Act No. 12314 or the General Appropriations Act (GAA) which contains the P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026. 

“If the Supreme Court says that it is unconstitutional, and not to do it next time, that is possible. There would be no more unprogrammed (funds),” Gatchalian said in a press briefing at the Senate. 

However, since petitions questioning the constitutionality of the 2026 national budget are still pending at the SC,  the Senate Committee on Finance chairman said the Executive department can still utilize the Unprogrammed Appropriations (UA) under the 2026 GAA. 

“Until there is no resolution, the unprogrammed funds can still be used,” he said.

“So what is important is that we don’t put items under the UA that can be abused. And that is what we did to ensure that unprogrammed funds won’t be abused,” he added.

For the meantime, Gatchalian said the Executive department can do away with the unprogrammed funds when crafting the National Expenditure Program (NEP). 

“They can do away with the UA when they submit the NEP, indicating zero budget for it,” he said.

“But to be honest, the amount would be too big. If we look at the Senate version, the amount is huge, almost P249-billion, and it’s hard for us to move it to the programmed funds,” he added.

“So if the policy is to remove the unprogrammed (funds), moving forward, then it has to happen in the NEP so that it can be studied very carefully,” Gatchalian pointed out. 

Gatchalian said zeroing out the unprogrammed funds in the middle or latter part of the budget process will greatly affect other government projects. 

“Because if you are going to do it during the budget process, it will affect the programmed funds,” he explained further. 

The President had said that his decision to reduce the UA under the 2026 GAA to the “absolute bare minimum” was to ensure that public funds are utilized to serve public interest and the country’s development goals.

According to Executive Secretary Ralph Recto, only three items under unprogrammed funds of the 2026 GAA remain: support to foreign-assisted projects worth P97.305-billion; revised Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program worth P50-billion; and Risk Management Program worth P3.6-billion.