MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang has firmly denied any involvement in the so-called “blank pages” in the 2025 national budget, following claims made by former President Rodrigo Duterte that unspecified items were included in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin addressed the allegations during a press conference on Friday, urging the public to dismiss the idea that the Executive Branch, including President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., had any role in the alleged blank items.

“Alisin natin sa consciousness ninyo na kami ay may kinalaman sa mga blank pages na sinasabi ninyo,” Bersamin said, referring to the accusations.

Bersamin reiterated that no one in the Executive Branch, including the President, had any involvement with the supposed blank spaces in the budget document. He also expressed frustration over the impression that President Marcos was given a “blank check.”

“That is why we resented the impression that the President was given a blank check,” he added.

Former President Duterte had previously claimed that the GAA contained blank items without specified projects or funding, prompting widespread speculation about the budget’s integrity. However, Bersamin strongly refuted these claims, calling them “fake news” and accusing critics of attempting to falsely implicate the President for filling in these blank pages.

“Kaya namin sinasabi na fake news ‘yan dahil binibintang kay Presidente ‘yung pag-fill up. Even if that is not what they said, that is the impression they want to give to the public, which is very wrong, very malicious,” he stressed.

Bersamin clarified that the Executive Branch did not benefit in any way from the purported blank spaces in the GAA.

In a separate statement, President Marcos had also dismissed the claims, saying it was impossible for the budget to pass with blank items.

“Kaya ako I came out with a very strong statement diyan and the President was very blunt also in saying that whatever the former president was saying about this is a lie,” Bersamin remarked.

He concluded by urging the public to direct their inquiries to Congress, saying that Malacañang had no involvement in the issue.

“Gusto kong malaman ng taumbayan na wala talaga kaming kinalaman diyan. Tanungin ninyo ang mga congressmen, mga senators. And that is all that we can say at this point,” Bersamin said.

The 2025 national budget has come under intense public scrutiny following claims by former President Duterte and Davao City 3rd District Representative Isidro Ungab, who alleged that the budget contained blank sections and called it “invalid.”

Both Bersamin and Marcos have denied the claims, asserting that Duterte’s allegations are false.

“He’s lying. He’s a President. He knows that you cannot pass a GAA (General Appropriations Act) with a blank,” Marcos said in a chance interview earlier this week.

“Some quarters, including a former president, have maliciously peddled fake news about President Marcos having signed the GAA of 2025 with certain parts of the enactment purposely left blank to enable the administration to simply fill in the amounts like in a blank check,” Bersamin said in a separate statement.