Graft laws will be applied in excess of Duterte special powers, says Drilon

MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Tuesday that while Congress gave its approval for the grant of special additional powers to President Rodrigo Duterte to respond to the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, applicable laws will be meted for those who will exceed the powers granted to the executive.

Speaking over dzBB, Drilon noted that the anti-graft law and the regulations of the Commission on Audit will remain in place as Senate Bill no. 1418 passed congressional muster, to be signed by the President.

Among the provisions under Senate Bill No. 1418 — which was adopted by the House of Representatives— allows the President to “reprogram, reallocate, and realign from savings on other items of appropriations in the Fiscal Year 2020 General Appropriations Act in the Executive Department, as may be necessary and beneficial to fund measures that address and respond to the COVID-19 emergency.”

The power to augment the budget was only among the several additional powers granted to Duterte, under the proposed law.

“Nais kong bigyang diin na hindi ibig sabihin na isasantabi na natin ang ating auditing rules, ang safeguards, ang anti-graft laws. Hindi po binabalewala iyan (I want to underscore that this does not mean we are setting aside our auditing rules and anti-graft laws. We are not setting them aside),” Drilon said in an interview with radio station DzBB.

Drilon further said that the Supreme Court’s numerous rulings in the cases involving the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) have already issued the guidelines for Congress in the realignment of the national budget to accommodate emergency concerns of the executive.

“Ang sinabi ng Korte Suprema ang pwede lang i-realign ay yung within the executive branch, hindi kasama yung sa legislative, judiciary, constitutional commissions, at dapat may savings,” Drilon explained.

(The Supreme Court said that only those from within the executive branch can be realigned. It does not cover those in the egislative, judiciary, constitutional commissions and there should be savings.)

“We also made sure that the funds will be used to fund programs, projects and activities that directly related to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic” he added.

Drilon also proposed that several items be prioritized for augmentation, such as:

Under the Department of Health

• operational budgets of government hospitals, primarily those identified for treatment of COVID-19;
• prevention and control of other infectious diseases;
• emergency preparedness and response;
• quick response fund;

Under the University of the Philippines

• the operational budget of the Philippine General Hospital;
• The National Disaster Risk Reduction fund or calamity fund;

Programs of the Department of Labor and Employment

• such as but not limited to Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disvanvantaged/Displaced Workers and COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program;

Under the Department of Agriculture

• Rice Farmers Financial Assistance Program;

Under the Department of Education

• School-Based Feeding Program;

Under various Department of Social Welfare and Development programs

• such as but not limited to Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations, distribution of food and no-food items, livelihood assistance grants, and supplemental feeding program for day care children;

Under allocations to Local Government Units

• Quick Response Funds.

Drilon hopes that the measure will “give enough leeway to the executive branch to do their job” within three months.

After the House of Representatives on early Tuesday morning adopted Senate bill, the two chambers no longer have to meet for a bicameral conference committee and thus, would only await Duterte’s approval of the bill.

EDV