By Liza Soriano
MANILA — Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and an unnamed Minority leader of the House of Representatives are set to challenge the constitutionality of the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) before the Supreme Court (SC).
Pimentel mentioned that discussions are already underway with the House member, who accordingly agreed to support the senator’s position.
While the Minority leader did not disclose the identity of the House member who will be joining him in filing the petition before the High Tribunal, the lawmaker from Mindanao clarified that the unnamed Lower House member is not Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman.
Pimentel stated that they are finalizing the outline detailing why the additional P450 billion approved by Congress, beyond the unprogrammed appropriation proposed by the President, is considered unconstitutional.
The senator expressed the hope of submitting the petition to the SC later this week, pending the readiness of their legal team.
In an earlier statement, Pimentel deemed the 2024 GAA bill “unconstitutional” following the bicameral conference committee’s decision to increase unprogrammed appropriations by P450 billion. This move surpassed the original proposal of the Executive Department in the 2024 budget, set at P5.768 trillion.
(El Amigo/MNM)
