MANILA, Philippines—Congress may enact a supplemental budget to cover the costs of government projects that were orphaned by the Supreme Court decision striking down the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
Members of the ruling Liberal Party in the House of Representatives have started studying the “corrective measure” as a way to bankroll DAP-funded projects in various stages of completion, and whose funding has been derailed by the high court ruling, Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Baguilat Jr. said.
He urged the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release a full list of DAP-funded projects, many of which the lawmakers did not even know were financed using the controversial measure.
“Now we’re starting to find out because the projects are not being paid for. District engineers are now writing [to us] that these are the projects not being settled. That’s why we want all the data,” said Baguilat.
He cited the case of a bridge that was destroyed at the height of typhoon “Pedring” in 2011. The repair of the bridge, as it turned out,
came from the DAP. “Well and good, because it’s been constructed, but that project has not been paid for,” he said.
The suggestion to pass a supplemental budget has been talked about favorably among Liberal Party members in the House, “but this has to be discussed with the committee on appropriations,” he said.
Committee on appropriations chair Isidro Ungab, the representative from Davao City, said the passage of a supplemental budget would be one option “as we have to take into consideration the predicament of contractors or suppliers who started working on said projects in good faith.”
He said the Supreme Court decision declaring certain acts and practices under the DAP to be unconstitutional did not actually rule that DAP-funded projects were deplorable or damaging to the beneficiaries.
AP FILE PHOTO
Another option, however, according to Ungab, is to seek clarification from the high tribunal on how to deal with payments for completed projects funded by the DAP.
Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, vice chair of the House committee on appropriations, said he thought a supplemental budget would be the best option so that good DAP-funded projects would not go to waste, such as electrification programs in rural villages, and other vital infrastructure projects.
“However, DAP-funded projects, which were tainted with graft and corruption, especially those that went to NGOs, should be excluded from the supplemental budget,” he said.
Funding could be obtained from savings from the efficient implementation of projects, “or the funds intended for DAP projects can also be realigned,” Evardone said.
“Congress should exercise its constitutional power to appropriate funds,” he said.
A supplemental budget may be enacted in Congress authorizing changes in the General Appropriations Act for the fiscal year.
It is prepared under the following circumstances: when funds are actually available as certified by the national treasurer; when new revenue sources can support additional budgetary requirements; and in times of public calamity.
Funds are considered to be “actually available” when realized income exceeds estimated income as of any given day, month or quarter of the fiscal year, or when there are savings.
“Savings” is defined as portions or balances of any appropriation that remain free of any obligation or encumbrances and which are still available after its satisfactory completion, or if the project has been discontinued or abandoned for some unavoidable reason.
“Technically, lawyers in the LP are saying that nothing in the Supreme Court ruling prevents Congress from actually using savings,” he said. “That’s allowed as long as there is an appropriation,” Baguilat said.
Asked for an estimate on how much the supplementary budget might involve, Baguilat said it was hard to guess since the House members had no idea which particular projects were financed using the DAP.
“That’s what we want to know. All of us are clueless… I mean, we didn’t know until now that these projects were funded by the DAP. But all of us were saying, most of these funds were used to respond to calamities,” he said.
Baguilat added: “What we’re asking is for us to be given the list of projects that were funded by DAP, so if there’s a need to have a supplemental budget, we can say here’s what you will need to supplement.”
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