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The main building of the Philippine Supreme Court in Manila as taken on Dec. 13, 2024.
Philstar.com / Martin Ramos
MANILA, Philippines — A third petition challenging the legality of the 2025 budget reached the Supreme Court on Monday, March 31.
The Teachers' Dignity Coalition, along with two other groups, filed a petition to declare Republic Act 12116 or the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2025 as void and unconstitutional.
The other groups are the Freedom from Debt Coalition and the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates.
The petitioners also requested the Supreme Court to issue a writ of prohibition to prevent the respondents from enforcing or implementing the GAA and stop them from releasing public funds.
Additionally, they sought a temporary restraining order to prevent the respondents from implementing the GAA.
The petition. According to the petitioners, education should have the highest priority in the budget, which is not complied with by Congress.
They pointed out that education is “poor second” compared to the budget allocated for infrastructure.
They cited Article 14 Section 5 (5) of the Constitution, saying:
“The State shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education and ensure that teaching will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment.”
The respondents of the petition are President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, the Senate of the Philippines, and the House of Representatives.
Other petitions
In January 2025, former executive secretary Vic Rodriguez and other individuals filed the initial petition. They requested the Supreme Court to declare the GAA unconstitutional, citing alleged irregularities and blank items in the bicameral conference committee report.
Meanwhile, on March 29, the 1Sambayan Coalition and other groups filed a second petition, seeking a temporary restraining order against the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program and asking the court to declare certain provisions of the GAA partially unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court scheduled the oral arguments for the petitions in May.
The Senate and House of Representatives approved the budget bill on December 11, 2024, after the bicameral conference committee resolved their disagreements.
Marcos signed the 2025 GAA into law on Dec. 30, 2024, but vetoed P194 billion worth of budget items that he deemed inconsistent with his administration's priorities.
