I am not a destabilizer - Rodriguez

Metro Manila, Philippines - An ex-Palace official refuted claims that his move to question the validity of the 2025 budget seeks to destabilize the government.

Former Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez made the statement in response to the remarks of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that the government will shut down should the Supreme Court declare the budget as invalid.

"We shut down everything. I guess that’s what they want. They want the government to cease working so ‘yung matuloy ‘yung kanilang mga destabilization na ginagawa," said Marcos in Cebu last week when asked about contingency plans as the budget faced legal challenges.

Rodriguez said in an interview with “The Newsmaker” that this should not be the case.

"Even if they do not have any contingency plan, framers of the 1987 Constitution already anticipated an event like this. Kaya merong provision sa ating saligang batas na pagka may mga ganitong senaryo, automatically enacted yung budget of the previous year. Hindi titigil ang gobyerno [That’s the reason ," he said.

Rodriguez also responded to Marcos's remarks about destabilization.

"I am not in any way a destabilizer. Walang destabilizer na kumikilala sa supremacy ng ating saligang batas. The Constitution is the fundamental and paramount law of the land. Kaya kami tumakbo sa Korte Suprema [No destabilizer will acknowledge the supremacy of the Constitution which is the ," he said.

Rodriguez, now an ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte, Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, and six others filed the petition for certiorari and prohibition for the budget before the Supreme Court on Jan. 27.

“After all the long discussions about the validity and constitutionality of the 2025 General Appropriations Act, we deemed it appropriate to bring the matter to the Supreme Court for adjudication,” Ungab said.

Issues flagged in the petition include the report of the bicameral conference committee, which reconciled the disagreeing provisions of the Senate and House budget bills, that contained blank allocations.