DAP legal, realignment of savings—Palace exec

Presidential deputy spokesperson Abigail Valte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang on Wednesday said the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), allegedly used to bribe lawmakers during the impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona, was legal and constitutional, contrary to the claims of some senators.

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte, in an interview with Radyo Inquirer 990AM, answered allegations by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and former Senator Joker Arroyo that the DAP was illegal because it was not listed under the 2011 and 2012 budgets (the annual General Appropriations Act) or any other law.

“The 1987 Constitution authorizes the President, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the heads of the Constitutional Commissions…to augment of an item (in the general appropriations law) for their respective offices from savings in other items of their respective appropriations,” Valte said, citing Section 25, Article VI of the Philippine Constitution.

The undersecretary said the General Appropriations Act (GAA) and the Administrative Code also have provisions detailing the use of savings.

“If Senator Joker Arroyo is looking for the phrase Disbursement Allocation Program…(he wouldn’t find it because) because it’s nothing more than a realignment of savings. The DAP is not a fund…It’s a mechanism…to accelerate public spending,” she said, adding that it is not like the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or the contingency fund.

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