Why won’t Palace bare list of DAP projects?

By: Kristine Angeli Sabillo - 10 years ago

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Give us more time. That was the plea of Malacañang on Tuesday amid requests for it to make public the list of 116 projects funded by the now defunct Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the government is still studying its legal options after the Supreme Court declared parts of the DAP unconstitutional.

“Kaya sa aming palagay, hindi pa napapanahon na usisain o siyasatin, o himay-himayin ‘yung mga iba’t ibang proyekto dahil bahagi ‘yan nung decision itself; and we would like to be able to frame first our legal position within the bounds permitted by the rules of court,” he said.

(In our opinion, the time is not yet right to investigate and scrutinize the projects because that is part of the SC decision; and we would like to be able to frame first our legal position within the bounds permitted by the rules of court.)

He said that while the government has been trumpeting the benefits of DAP-funded projects, things have changed.

At one point, he said: “We deem ourselves covered by the rules of court in discussing matters that pertain to an active case.”

However, the Secretary assured the public that the list would soon be released.

“Tumatalima naman tayo doon sa mga prinsipyo ng accountability of public officials. Kaya’t makatitiyak tayo na doon sa takdang panahon ay magkakaroon ng pagbubunyag hinggil sa mga bagay na ‘yan,” he said.

(We abide by the principle of accountability of public officials. There is assurance that at the right time, such things will be revealed.)

He also clarified that they are not withholding information and would not prohibit other agencies of government from releasing the information they have.

Coloma said the high court itself did not mention the 116 projects as included in the submitted evidence.

“I think there is some portion there where some of the justices expressed the opinion that it will—it is not appropriate to comment on the status of those projects whether constitutional or unconstitutional in one breadth,” he added.

A day after the Supreme Court announced its decision, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said that Malacañang implemented the DAP “in good faith.” He also pointed out that projects funded by the program meant to stimulate the economy benefited many people.

He said among the projects funded by the DAP were the construction of school buildings, acquisition of a Doppler radar and operations of Project Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (NOAH) under the Department of Science and Technology.

The Department Budget and Management (DBM) earlier claimed that the DAP was created to help pump-prime the economy and shift funds to fast-moving projects.

However, the Supreme Court said the government violated the Constitution because the DAP allowed withdrawal of unobligated allotments, cross-border transfers of savings and funding of projects and use of unprogrammed funds not covered by the General Appropriations Act.

Groups like the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan are also accusing the government of creating conditions of underspending or using economic pump-priming to justify the DAP and control the disbursement of funds.

Coloma, however, declined to answer such allegations.

“We prefer that we stay focused on the findings of the court as embodied in its decision. From our reading of the decision, this point was not taken up by the court and may not be a relevant topic for discussion,” he said.