Come clean on DAP, Escudero tells Abad

Francis “Chiz” Escudero: Abad’s job to disclose details. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero now wants Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to come clean on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) junked by the Supreme Court last week.

Escudero on Monday said it was Abad’s job to disclose details of appropriations and projects under the stimulus program at the hearing by the finance committee, possibly this month.

So far, Escudero said the figures submitted by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on the DAP, a mechanism introduced in 2011 to pump-prime the economy, did not tally with those in news reports.

Besides, Escudero admitted that senators were clueless whether DBM’s allocations for their pet projects in 2011 and 2012 came from the DAP, or from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the congressional pork barrel.

“That’s the problem. We don’t know,” he told reporters when asked if he could account for his projects funded with the DAP.

Escudero stopped short of calling for Abad’s resignation, saying this was a personal decision.

The high court last Tuesday struck down the presidential budgetary prerogative, including a circular allowing the release of savings from the executive department to agencies and projects outside the national budget approved by Congress.

According to the DBM, some P136.75 billion had been made available in the 2011 and 2012 national budgets to fund high-impact projects under the DAP. Only P114.57 billion was used.

Escudero said he would ask Abad to submit a list of projects funded with the DAP, and the corresponding appropriations ahead of the resumption of hearing on the DAP by the finance committee, which he chairs.

He said Abad should specify which amounts were releases from the DAP or from the PDAF.

“For now, it’s only right that the explanation about the DAP come from him, specifically what happened under the DAP, the details, and moving on, how to avoid this and ensure this won’t happen again,” he said.

Other senators also disclaimed knowledge of the DAP.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who according to the DBM received a P50-million allocation from the DAP, clarified that the P50 million was part of his PDAF.

“Just to clarify, this P50 million is not in the form of cash, but rather fund allocations for projects identified by legislators,” he added in a statement.

Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano last Friday confirmed endorsing projects before and after the impeachment trial and conviction of Chief Justice Renato Corona, but claimed he was not aware these were funded with the DAP.

Otherwise, the practice of augmenting department’s budgets with savings had been in place in the bureaucracy for the last 20 years, he said.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III said he was merely asked to identify projects to be financed with P45.5 million in DAP funds. He said the implementing agencies could have rejected this.

Twenty senators received DAP allocations, according to the DBM.