The Supreme Court (SC) was asked on Thursday, Jan. 8, to declare unconstitutional the P150.9 billion unprogrammed appropriations (UA) in the 2026 national budget.

The P150.9 billion UA was included in the P6.793 trillion national budget for 2026 under Republic Act No. 12314, the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA), that was signed into law by President Marcos last Jan. 5.

The petition against the UA was filed by Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Rep. Leila de Lima and Caloocan 2nd District Rep. Edgar Erice. They asked the SC to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) that would stop the disbursement of the funds for UA.

Under the 2026 GAA, the UA serves as a "standby authority" to be used only "when specific conditions are met, such as when revenue collection exceeds targets, or when additional grants or foreign funds are generated.”

But De Lima and Erice in their petition claimed that such structure “inverts the constitutional architecture of budgeting.”

They said that “instead of revenues determining expenditures, expenditures are authorized in anticipation of revenues whose existence is speculative and contingent."

Thus, they pointed out that the UA in the 2026 GAA violates Article VII, Section 22, which requires the budget to be based on actual "sources of financing."

They also said: "The constitution is unequivocal. The GAA is meant to rest on a fiscal program that is matched with identifiable sources of financing, not on spending authority dependent on contingencies that remain uncertain at the time of enactment."

At the same time, they told the SC that there is no certification from the National Treasurer that there are actual funds available for special appropriations.

"The structure of the UA is constitutionally infirm because it authorizes appropriations without the required revenue certainty contemplated by Article VI, Section 25(4). Appropriations cannot constitutionally rest on mere possibilities that are neither determinable nor certified as ‘actually available’ at the time Congress enacts the GAA," they also said.

In justifying their plea for a TRO, De Lima and Erice said: "The magnitude, contingent nature, and structure of the Unprogrammed Appropriations expose public funds to the risk of unconstitutional release."

They also said that the P150.9 billion for UA is so big that it represents a "significant portion of the national wealth" that would be impossible to recover if spent illegally.

The President had proposed P249.9 billion for UA in the 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP). While the amount was trimmed by the House of Representatives and the Senate during their deliberations, the bicameral conference committee raised it back to P243 billion.

The President eventually vetoed P92.5 billion of the amount originally set for UA.