he Supreme Court (SC) will resume starting at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 21, the oral arguments on four petitions that challenged the constitutionality of the unprogrammed funds and special accounts in the 2024, 2025, and 2026 national budgets.

Expected to present their arguments are the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Office of the Executive Secretary, and the Department of Budget and Management which were named respondents in the consolidated petitions.

The respondents will be represented by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) which had earlier asked the SC to dismiss the petitions.

In one of its comments, the OSG told the SC: “Unprogrammed appropriations are equally vital as programmed appropriations. However, the reality is that the government’s resources are finite; it is unable to guarantee and fund all its intended expenditures within a fiscal year. Thus, the government is constrained to relegate some of the planned projects, activities, and programs as unprogrammed appropriations, which are dependent on additional funding from a contingent source.”

In opposing the pleas for temporary restraining order (TRO) which was not granted by the SC, the OSG said: “A TRO would mean that should the government obtain the much-needed additional funding within the fiscal year, it cannot use them to implement the awaiting unprogrammed appropriations.”

“This is highly impractical and uneconomical, nay wasteful. Ultimately, it is the public who would suffer from the delay or non-implementation of standby projects, activities, and programs that have clearly found their funding,” it also told the SC.

The SC conducted the first day of the oral arguments last April 7 at its session hall in Manila.

The SC’s Office of the Spokesperson said that set for the continuation of the arguments are four consolidated petitions -- G.R. No. 271059, Rep.Edcel C. Lagman et al. vs Congress of the Philippines et al.; G.R. No. 271347, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez vs Lucas P. Bersamin and Amenah F. Pangandaman; G.R. No. E-02472, Filipinos for Peace, Justice and Progress Movement Inc. vs House of Representatives et al.; and G.R. No. E-04036, Edgar R. Erice and Leila de Lima v. Senate of the Philippines et al.

The petitioners – legislators, taxpayers, and concerned citizens – asked the SC to nullify the adjustments made by Congress’ Bicameral Conference Committees that inflated the national budget for three consecutive years.

A total of P150.9 billion in unprogrammed appropriations 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.

It is expected that after today’s oral arguments, the SC will require the petitioners and the respondents to submit their consolidated memorandum in amplification of the debates.

Thereafter, the petitions are deemed submitted for resolution by the SC.