Posts on social media are spreading the claim that there were irregularities such as blank figures in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) signed by President Ferdinand Marcos, and that this has led to an impeachment case. This is not true.
The Facebook (FB) page of political commentator Jun Abines published one of the now-deleted spurious posts on Jan. 19. A part of it read:
“The signed GAA of 2025 is an irrefutable evidence that Malacanang and Congress committed a heinous crime of defrauding the Filipino people through an illegal national budget with blank amounts that can easily be filled with hundreds of billions of pesos by anyone with no authority, no accountability and no identity. Many parts of the GAA 2025 are technically blank checks!”
Two days later, a YouTube channel posted a 42-minute video with the narrator saying that Marcos is facing impeachment over the “illegal signing” of the 2025 GAA. It bore the headline:
“KAKAPASOK LANG Het0 Go0dNews! PBBM Impeachment Isusul0ng na? mga Pumirmang Alip0res Pakakas0han din (Just in. This is good news! Marcos’ impeachment going to happen? Others who signed will also be charged)?”
These claims are false. The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) cleared up the confusion on the allegations. The president is also not facing any impeachment charges nor are there any officials that publicly announced their intention to file an impeachment case against him.
DBM said in a Jan. 20 statement: “These allegations are false and reckless.”
“What has been presented by certain misinformed individuals are pages from the Bicameral Conference Committee Report, and NOT the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) nor the GAA,” it read.
DBM also added that the bill – and not the bicameral report – is the document officially submitted to the president for approval or veto, as mandated by the 1987 Constitution.
“To reiterate, the Bill presented to and signed by the President is a complete document, with no blank pages or missing details. In no case does the Executive issue a GAA with blank pages or figures,” it added.
Another similar post made on Abines’ FB page was debunked by VERA Files Fact Check earlier this week, where we also confirmed that the 4,057-page GAA for the fiscal year of 2025, or Republic Act No. 12116, did not contain any “blank pages.”
The full copy of the 2025 GAA is publicly available and can be accessed online via DBM’s official website.
These false claims emerged after former president Rodrigo Duterte raised the alleged discrepancies in the approved 2025 national budget. In response, Marcos said the former president lied.
FB page Jun Abines (created on Nov. 3, 2008) published the post which garnered over 52,000 reactions, 3,500 comments and 55,000 shares. The erring video, on the other hand, was published by YouTube channel PINAS NEWS HEADLINES (July 24, 2017) which received over 2,300 online interactions and 43,000 views.
