House coalition leaders to block impeachment move

Eastern Samar Ben Evardone: We will block impeachment move. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–No “loyalty check” was necessary.

Leaders of the ruling coalition in the House of Representatives have agreed to ward off any attempt to impeach President Aquino on the strength of a Supreme Court ruling striking down the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), an administration lawmaker said.

“There was no loyalty check,” Eastern Samar Ben Evardone told reporters on Wednesday.

“On the other hand, leaders of various blocs belonging to the majority have agreed that any effort to initiate impeachment proceedings [against the President] will be blocked,” he said.

Evardone identified the blocs and their leaders as:

Bicol bloc, Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento; Southern Tagalog, Laguna Rep. Joaquin Chipeco; Muslim bloc, Lanao del Sur Rep. Pangalian Balindong; Visayan bloc, Iloilo City Rep. Jerry Treñas; National Unity Party, Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga; Party-list bloc, Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe.

Mindanao bloc, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez; Cordillera Administrative Region, Benguet Rep. Ronald Cosalan; Metro Manila, Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice and Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, and Ilocos bloc, Ilocos Sur Rep. Eric Singson.

Talk of impeachment against Arroyo surfaced on Tuesday after the Supreme Court ruled certain practices under the DAP to be unconstitutional, including the release of savings of the executive branch to other agencies, as well as the funding of projects not covered in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

The DAP was a stimulus package introduced by the Aquino administration in 2011 to fast-track public spending and push economic growth.

The program, which Malacañang discontinued at the height of questions on its legality, first came to light through Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, now detained on plunder and graft charges in connection with the misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

After he was implicated in the P10-billion pork barrel scam, Estrada said in a privilege speech last year that DAP funds were released to senators in exchange for their vote for the conviction in 2012 of then Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, who was impeached for the misdeclaration in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth.

All the way to Aquino

All the way to the President, those responsible for the implementation of the nullified DAP are liable for graft, according to lawyer Harry Roque.

He said this as he and other petitioners pressed for the criminal liability of officials involved in the so-called “presidential pork barrel” from birth to implementation.

Citing “damage done to the government” as the DAP constituted an unauthorized release of funds deemed illegal under the antigraft law, Roque said all officials responsible for the DAP should be held accountable, from the President to the senators who allocated the releases.

“It should be everyone, from who developed the policy to the ones who authorized the release of the money and to those who received them and actually disbursed them. Even if it went to a government project, because it was done in a manner contrary to the Constitution, there is damage done to the government,” Roque said in an interview.

“If it can be proven that it was the President who ordered this policy to be implemented, then the criminal liability attaches to the President,” said the lawyer, who represented losing senatorial aspirant Greco Belgica in one of nine petitions that sought the nullification of the DAP.

Smoking gun

On Wednesday, a copy of a June 25, 2012, memo by Budget Secretary Florencio Abad asking the President for authority to move funds for priority projects was sent to House reporters by Bayan Muna, which described the memo as the “smoking gun” against the Chief Executive.

The memo contained a note from Mr. Aquino approving two items: the grant of omnibus authority to consolidate and realign savings and unused balances in 2012, and to withdraw and realign the unobligated balances of national government agencies for slow-moving projects, as of June 30, 2012.

But Evardone said the so-called smoking gun memo actually only served to highlight the importance of allowing government to make full use of its own savings.

Bill to use savings

“I am filing a bill asap that will clearly define savings and how it should be used. The bill will amend the General Appropriations Act of 2014 and will be included in future GAAs so that the hands of the government [will not be] tied for one year,” he said.

“The bill will allow the use of savings every quarter so we don’t have idle funds until the end of the year,” Evardone said.

Immune from suit

Roque acknowledged that President Aquino was “immune from suit” while he is in office.

“But after two years (by 2016), he can be prosecuted basically for graft, if it can be shown that he was the one who authorized the implementation of this program,” Roque said on the sidelines of a press conference in Manila.

While other petitioners called the Supreme Court decision a “partial” success, Roque said it was a “complete victory” as the ruling nullified “all of the features of the DAP that we impugn.”

“Now we think that with this decision, we have strengthened the system of check and balance. It says in the Constitution that it is only Congress that can come up with how taxpayer money should be spent and that the executive should implement to the letter,” Roque said.

He said recipients of DAP funds, including the senators, may not claim lack of knowledge about the nature of DAP and must return the disbursed amounts even if they could not account for where the amounts went.

“In the first place, the law does not require that they know it. The question is, ‘Was there prejudice to the government?’ Even if they can account for it, because it was an illegal expenditure, they have to return the money,” Roque said.

“They cannot claim that it was rightfully spent because the process of disbursement was illegal. So, what they should do is return the money,” he said.

CBCP hails ruling

Catholic bishops hailed the decision of the Supreme Court to declare the DAP unconstitutional.

“The Supreme Court decision challenges all of us to be vigilant against graft,” said Lingayen Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas.

He said the high court decision also challenged everyone to “zealously promote integrity in public and private life.”

“We must be a nation of laws and citizenry of integrity,” said Villegas, who also leads the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.–With a report from Tina G. Santos