SENATE President Edith Deleon Guerrero and other senators present in a session on Wednesday said Gov. Arnold I. Palacios violated the Planning and Budgeting Act when he issued Executive Directive 2025-002 to restore the executive branch employees’ 80 working hours per pay period.
Sen. Jude U. Hofschneider asked Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero to allow Senate fiscal analyst Dave Demapan to present his analysis on the impact of the governor’s directive on the Fiscal Year 2025 budget.
Demapan told the senators that the restoration of 80 working hours for the executive branch employees would cost a total of $14.8 million.
Hofschneider said “it’s troubling that we are talking about this. In fact, the first branch of the government [Legislature] is crippled in operations because of this exercise that was unilaterally made.”
Sen. Celina Babauta said she conveyed to the governor a concern that the issuance of E.D. 2025-002 might have violated the Planning and Budgeting Act.
But she also noted that as reported by Variety, the governor had told the House leadership to amend the Appropriations and Budget Authority Act of 2025 or Public Law 23-26 to reflect the additional revenue estimate that will fund the restoration of the 80 working hours of executive branch employees.
The Senate president asked Senate legal counsel Joe Bermudes which provision of the Planning and Budgeting Act the governor may have violated.
Bermudes mentioned Title 1, Section 7604 of the codified provision of Public Law 3-68, which stated that in the case of $200,000 or 3% or more increase in revenue, the governor shall transmit within 15 days a special budget message to the Legislature proposing to provide an additional budget for the fiscal year.
Hofschneider said “first and foremost, we support the restoration of 80 hours. However, we do understand there are some steps that need to be made.”
He asked the Senate president if they had received any communication from the administration “that would trigger us to consider an amendment to the FY2025 budget.”
Deleon Guerrero said, “We received communication about the lifting of the austerity,” but “it is very clear what the statute calls for with respect to anything that is more than [what is] identified [in the budget].” Clearly, she said, “there is a violation of law here.”
She added, “As elected officials, we should hold ourselves accountable…and to be at a higher level of standard of the law, rather than brush it off and clean the book after we realize that a provision of the law has been violated. I think we need to own up to that. It is not fair to the people. This is not the end of this discussion.”
Senate Floor Leader Corina Magofna said her “concerns are geared toward the general concept of the process and protocol in place, pertaining to potential violations of the law.”
She asked if the administration had transmitted any form of communication to the Legislature regarding the identification of additional financial resources to lift the austerity measure.
The answer was no.
“So based on the explanation provided by the legal counsel to me, it’s clear that there was a violation of the Planning and Budgeting Act, specifically subsection 7604 item (b.),” she said.
On Tuesday afternoon, the governor and Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang met with the members of the House leadership and asked them to pass a supplemental budget for the restoration of the 80 work-hours of executive branch employees.
The governor announced the lifting of the austerity measure on Oct. 31, 2024, during the early-voting period, five days before Election Day.
Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero asks Senate fiscal analyst Dave Demapan a question during a Senate session on Wednesday.
Sen. Jude Hofschneider listens to Senate fiscal analyst Dave Demapan — not in photo — during a Senate session on Wednesday.
