Outgoing Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (left) speaks to his successor Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. (right) after the departure honors for Duterte at the Malacañang Palace in Manila on June 30, 2022. Arman Baylon, Presidential Photo/File 

MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday said his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte was "lying" in his allegations of supposed irregularities in the 2025 national budget.

The former President earlier claimed in a press conference that the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) was signed with several items left blank which he said was akin to handing over a blank check to the government.

"He's lying. He's a [former] President, he knows that you cannot pass the GAA with a blank," Marcos said of Duterte.

"He's lying and he's lying because he knows perfectly well that cannot happen," he told reporters. "Sa buong, sa kasaysayan ng buong Pilipinas, hindi pinapayagan na magkaroon ng item ang GAA na hindi nakalagay kung ano yung project, at saka ano yung, yung gastos, ano yung pondo. So, it’s a lie." 

Marcos noted that the 2025 budget could be viewed on the Department of Budget and Management's website.

"Hanapin niyo yung sinasabi nila na blank check. Tignan nyo kung meron kahit isa. Para mapatunayan na tama ang sinasab kong kasinungalingan yan," he said.

Duterte claimed that the spending plan was “invalid and unenforceable” after Davao City Third District Rep. Isidro Ungab's supposed discovery of “blank entries” in the bicameral conference committee report on the 2025 budget of the Department of Agriculture.

“You cannot pass a law with blanks. It is not allowed by law. You cannot pass an incomplete appropriation or bill for that matter. Pagka ganoon there’s something terribly wrong and as a matter of fact I would say, kung may mga blangko yan na lumusot, that is not a valid legislation,” Duterte said.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin earlier said that Duterte's "peddling of such fake news is outrightly malicious and should be condemned as criminal."

'Fake news': Palace denies Duterte claims of irregularities in 2025 national budget

But former Duterte's spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the former president was merely expressing a legal opinion on the assumption that Ungab’s charges were true and if the General Appropriations Bill as signed by PBBM contains the same irregularities.”

“The question thrown by the reporter is predicated in the wrong premise. FPRRD did not allege any blank item or one that has no particular program. He was merely expressing a legal opinion on the assumption that what Cong Ungab was saying is true,” Panelo said.

“In the same way, that PBBM response is also misplaced being anchored on the wrong premise,” he added.

Ungab, an ally of Duterte, had claimed that the bicameral report that was supposed to reconcile the conflicting parts of the 2025 General Appropriations Bill versions from House and Senate, had “blank items”. The Davao solon posted on his social media page alleged photos of the items left blank in the bicam report. 

“It’s very clear that I have said that there is a defect in the Bicam report. In the Podcast of Basta Dabawenyo, I pointed out the pages that have blank items in the Bicameral Conference Committee Report,” Ungab said in a post on his Facebook account on Monday afternoon.

“If there are blank items in the bicam report, how come that the GAA was complete, despite the blank items? Pwede ba iyon?” he asked.

In a separate social media post on Sunday, Ungab also raised similar questions.

“Why did the bicam members sign a defective Bicameral Conference Committee Report? Why did Congress ratify a defective Bicam Report? And why did the President sign a defective 2025 General Appropriations Act?” he asked.

Meanwhile, Sen. Imee Marcos said she was not aware of the alleged blank items in the 2025 budget.

“Hindi po ako pumirma ng budget. Makikita po ninyo hindi ako pumirma kaya itanong na lang ninyo sa ibang Senador kung anong kababalaghan kung meron nga. Ang akin nag-privilege speech na ko tapos sinabi ko na yung nakita kong mga problema at matapos nun, hindi na ko pumirma,” the President's sister said.

— With reports from Jamaine Punzalan, Pia Gutierrez, Victoria Tulad, and  Vivienne Gulla, ABS-CBN News