Youth group vs Abad: He must go to jail

PLEASE EXPLAIN Budget Secretary Florencio Abad faces increasing demands from critics to resign for the alleged misuse of public funds. At right,members of militant youth groups hold a rally outside the DBM office in Manila on Tuesday. JOAN BONDOC

MANILA, Philippines–More than a dozen youth leaders led by Kabataan Rep. Terry Ridon on Tuesday filed plunder charges against Department of Budget and Management (DBM) chief Florencio Abad, saying “a bad secretary must go to jail.”

In its 16-page complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman, Ridon and student leaders under Youth Act Now! (YAN) claimed that Abad “systematically misappropriated, converted, misused and malversed public funds through his executive issuances and the programs implemented by him … in connivance with other government officials.”

YAN, a nationwide alliance of youth groups against pork barrel, alleged that based on last week’s Supreme Court decision declaring the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) unconstitutional, Abad conceptualized, developed and implemented the DAP himself supposedly as an economic  stimulus facility.

Coddling Abad

“All the elements of plunder exist in the instant case. The aggregate amount of plundered funds exceeds P50 million, amounting to no less than P144 billion as of 2013,” Ridon said.

He explained that President Aquino should have been included in the plunder charge were it not for his immunity from all suits while in office.

“Filing criminal charges against Abad is just the first half of the legal actions that we will pursue. We will be filing an impeachment complaint against Aquino next,” he said. “The very fact that Aquino is coddling a criminal like  Abad only proves that the two of them have connived to execute this multi-billion monstrosity  known as the DAP.”

Payback

Ridon revealed that this plunder charge was in part “payback” for Abad’s cold-hearted move to cut the  budget of schools, universities and colleges in the first budget year of the Aquino administration.

“Youth groups cannot simply forget that school funds were cut in the past few years while the President enjoyed a multibillion-peso kitty fund,” he said.

Ridon also appealed to Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales to expedite the investigation of Abad’s plunder case and “not give in to pressure by the Aquino administration.”

The petitioners include YAN national convenor Victor Villanueva, Ateneo de Manila student publication Matanglawin editor Dyan Francisco, YAN-Ateneo de Manila University chapter coordinator Jerome Flores, Philippine Collegian editor Mary Joy Capistrano, University of the  Philippines student regent Neill John Macuha, Katipunan Kontra Korupsyon convenor Eduardo Gabral, UP Manila Collegian editor Elizabeth Fodulla,  Polytechnic University of the Philippines Catalyst editor April Joy Camacho, YAN-UP Open University coordinator Michelle Lado, Anakbayan chair Vencer Crisostomo, Student Christian Movement spokesperson Einstein Recedes, League of Filipino Students spokesperson Charlotte Velasco, College Editors Guild of the Philippines president Marc Lino Abila, and National Union of Students of the Philippines president Sarah Jane Elago.

The complainants based their petition primarily on the Supreme Court decision declaring the DAP unconstitutional, including the opinion of Associate Justice Arturo Brion who tagged the DAP as the brainchild of Abad.

Special note

The complaint also took special note of the illegal transfer of funds under the DAP to the Commission on Audit (P143.7 million) and the House  of Representatives (P250 million). The petitioners also underscored the court decision which explicitly excluded Abad and other “authors, proponents and implementors of the DAP” from the “doctrine of operative fact” which “nullifies the void law or executive act but sustains its effects.”

“By leaving the ‘authors, proponents and implementors’ of the DAP open for investigation for their criminal, civil and administrative liabilities, the  justices of the Supreme Court are in fact telling the  Filipino people that the Aquino administration,  especially DBM Secretary Abad, should be held liable,” said Ridon.

‘Good faith’ can’t save Abad

Citing “good faith” or “ignorance of the law” would not save Abad from being punished for employing a patently illegal act, according to the petitioners.

The petitioners quoted parts of Associate Justice Brion’s separate concurring opinion on the DAP that “it is not hard to believe  that [Abad] can run circles around the budget and its processes, and did, in fact, purposely use this  knowledge for the administration’s objective of  gathering the very sizable funds collected under the DAP.”

Aside from the high court ruling, the complainants also cited Janet Lim-Napoles’ affidavit submitted to the Department of Justice in May in which the alleged pork barrel scam mastermind named Abad as her mentor, a charge Abad has denied.

Noise barrage

Militant groups on Tuesday held a noise barrage protest at Quezon City Welcome Rotunda, calling for the impeachment of Aquino.

The Koalisyon ng Progresibong Manggagawa at Mamamayan called the President the “pork barrel king” and played on the DAP acronym in banners: “NaholDAP ang Pilipino,” “Pork barrel king DAPat patalsikin.”

The group exhorted motorists and pedestrians to join protest actions during the President’s Sona on July 28, and interspersed the speeches with whistles, thumpings and car honks.

“It is a crime to waste funds on the DAP which should have been used for public services,” said Kilusang Mayo Uno chair Elmer Labog.–With a report from Jaymee T. Gamil

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