May revenue shortfall justify non-compliance with the constitutional mandate to automatically and regularly release approved appropriations of agencies vested with fiscal autonomy?

Revenue shortfall does not justify non-compliance with the mandate of Article IX (A), Section 5 of the Constitution to automatically and regularly release approved appropriations. The Constitution grants the enjoyment of fiscal autonomy only to the Judiciary, the Constitutional Commissions, and the Ombudsman. To hold that petitioner may be subjected to withholding or reduction of funds in the event of a revenue shortfall would, to that extent, place petitioner and the other entities vested with fiscal autonomy on equal footing with all others which are not granted the same autonomy, thereby reducing to naught the distinction established by the Constitution. (Civil Service Commission vs. DBM, G.R. No. 158791, July 22, 2005)