Supreme Court resets arguments on DAP

The Supreme Court on Friday deferred the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Malacañang’s Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) and reset the oral arguments on the petitions questioning the controversial public spending policy to Nov. 11.

The high court’s spokesperson, lawyer Theodore Te, said the justices, in a special en banc session, deferred the issuance of a TRO on the DAP sought by former Rep. Augusto Syjuco Jr. and by the so-called Makabayan bloc of militant party-list lawyers and civil society leaders.

The court earlier consolidated the six cases questioning the DAP and scheduled the oral arguments for Nov. 19. Te did not explain why the oral arguments were reset to an earlier date.

The other petitioners against the DAP who filed separate cases were the Philippine Constitutional Association, Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and lawyers Jose Malvar Villegas Jr. and Manuelito

Luna.

In their regular en banc session on Tuesday, the justices gave the respondents in the case, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., 10 days to submit their comments through the Office of the Solicitor General.

The DAP is a policy instituted by the Department of Budget and Management where the savings from slow-moving or canceled projects were realigned and used for other projects to boost the economy.