Reenacting the 2024 national budget and carrying it over for next year is not an option, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. stressed on Monday.
In a previous interview, President Marcos acknowledged some calls to veto the entire proposed 2025 national budget. However, the government cannot afford to operate under the previous budget, he said.
“There were calls to veto the entire budget and to revert to a reenacted one. However, this is not an option that we can afford,” the President said.
“A reenacted budget will set us back, delay our vital programs, jeopardize targets for economic growth, including our goals of achieving single-digit poverty levels, and upper-middle-income status,” he added.
Earlier on Monday, the President signed the PhP6.326 trillion 2025 national budget from the initial proposed PhP6.352 trillion.
President Marcos vetoed PhP194 billion worth of proposed projects which he said were “inconsistent with the administration’s priority programs.”
In his speech, the President said he directly vetoed provisions not responsive to the peoples’ needs. Conditional implementation on certain items was also pursued to ensure public funds are utilized according to authorized purposes, he added. (PND)
