OSG asks Supreme Court for extension to comment on budget law petition
Metro Manila, Philippines - The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) has asked the Supreme Court for five more days to file its comment on the petition challenging the constitutionality of this year’s budget law.
The high court directed the Office of the President and Congress to comment on the petition for certiorari against the 2025 General Appropriations Act within 10 days.
The OSG, the government’s lawyer, said it received the copies of the resolution on Feb. 12. The filing period lapsed on Saturday, Feb. 22.
“Although the draft of the said comment has already been finished, it is still undergoing further revision and/or correction before it can be filed,” the OSG said in its motion received by the high tribunal on Friday.
“The instant motion is not intended to delay the proceeding but solely due to the foregoing reasons,” it said of its request to extend its filing of a comment until Feb. 27.
The Supreme Court announced it set the oral arguments for the case on April 1 and the preliminary conference on Feb. 28.
Former Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez, Davao City 3rd District Rep. Isidro Ungab, and others filed the petition, alleging that there were blank items in the bicameral conference committee report for the 2025 budget, among other supposed irregularities.
President Ferdinand Marcos earlier said Solicitor General Menardo Gueverra told him the administration is on “solid footing” with the constitutionality of the 2025 budget.
