MANILA, Philippines–President Aquino has insisted that his Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) was different from the graft-ridden Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), a pork barrel that the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional late last year in the face of public outrage over its misuse.
But a list from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed that the executive branch had set aside a total of P17.585 billion in DAP funds for projects “requested by” legislators—a practice similar to how the congressional pork barrel worked.
Aquino on Tuesday maintained that “only a minimal portion of DAP releases have any issue.”
“Rest assured: The Commission on Audit will ensure that, if there was any abuse or misuse of this fund, then those responsible will be held to account,” he said in a speech before local and international business leaders, including World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, in Malacañang.
Of the amount, P17.308 billion was actually released, according to the list of 116-DAP funded projects finally made public by Malacañang on Monday night, two weeks after the Supreme Court declared DAP unconstitutional.
The amounts were much higher than Malacañang’s previous estimate of P12.8 billion, which represented “nine percent” of DAP funds earmarked for projects of legislators.
The P17.585-billion DAP fund proposed for projects of members of both chambers of Congress was on top of their annual PDAF allocation of P24.8 billion for 2011 and 2012.
Cross-border mechanism
A total of P167 billion was proposed for 116 projects but “allotment releases” amounted to P144.378 billion, according to the 19-page document signed by Budget Secretary Florencio Abad.
Congressional pork barrel on Abad’s list came in the form of “priority local projects nationwide requested by legislators, local government officials and national agencies.”
The practice of realigning savings to other branches of government falls under the “cross-border” mechanism, which the Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional.
Bogus NGOs
The Inquirer reported early this month that Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Revilla, Juan Ponce Enrile, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Tito Sotto received a total of P425 million as DAP funds from the DBM between March and May 2012 and funneled it to bogus nongovernment organizations (NGOs) put up by Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the P10-billion PDAF scam. The lawmakers denied receiving hefty kickbacks from Napoles.
The senators’ DAP allocations were: Estrada, P100 million; Marcos, P100 million; Revilla, P100 million; Sotto, P70 million; and Enrile, P55 million.
Estrada, Revilla and Enrile are in detention on charges of plunder and graft in connection with the PDAF scam.
DAP ‘good’
In a televised speech Monday night, the President rejected suggestions that the DAP was similar to the PDAF.
“Excuse me. The DAP is different from the PDAF,” he said. “In the PDAF, there are those who brought government funds to fake NGOs and allegedly divided them among themselves. In the DAP, it’s clear that the government fund was not stolen.”
Aquino defended the DAP once again the following morning, saying it was “good.”
“The most compelling statement that has risen above the din and clamor surrounding the DAP has been this undisputed truth: The DAP was good. Neither the Supreme Court nor our most vociferous critics have made statements to the contrary,” he said.
Critical agencies
More than half of the P144 billion released through the DAP went to what the President called “three critical agencies,” namely, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and National Housing Authority.
Aquino said P30 billion was used to beef up BSP’s capitalization as part of the national government’s obligation under the New Central Bank Act of 1993. He said another P10 billion came from the General Appropriations Act.
P33B for infra
More than P33 billion was spent for the “construction and rehabilitation of roads, bridges, flood-control projects and other critical infrastructure across the country” through the DPWH.
“This helped boost the growth and effectiveness of industry; it made it easier for tourists to reach favored destinations; it helped make the Philippines a more attractive destination to investors. This, we did under the DAP,” the President said.
Housing, livelihood
Another P11 billion went to housing projects, he said.
“And there were many more projects: We renovated hospitals and health centers, and upgraded their equipment; we hired nurses and midwives and deployed them to areas where they were most needed; we expanded the coverage of our flagship conditional cash transfer program; we bolstered livelihood projects, preserved key tourism and heritage sites, and strengthened our weather forecasting abilities,” he said.
“We also improved the facilities of state universities and colleges, and empowered our youth to join the workforce through the Training for Work Scholarship Program. Under the DAP, we were also able to completely settle a debt that past administrations had incurred: We released P3.46 billion to pay the balance of unpaid GSIS, or government pension premium payments.”
P2B for Tarlac
The DBM list showed that Aquino’s home province of Tarlac also benefited from the DAP in the form of road and bridge projects worth P2 billion.
Closer to home, the Presidential Security Group was allocated P248.327 million to upgrade the Malacañang compound’s “communication system.”
The DBM also granted Speaker Feliciano Belmonte’s request for P250 million to complete the congressional “E-Library.”
P3.3B for health
Health Secretary Enrique Ona identified the projects amounting to P3.3 billion in total DAP allocations that the Department of Health (DOH) received.
The amount went to the purchase of medicines, supplies, medical equipment and the hiring of more nurses and midwives and improve public health facilities necessary for the ordinary Filipino to access better healthcare at the least possible cost, said Ona.
“[The funding] gave us the capacity to modernize, to supply, equip and not only rehabilitate health facilities but also augment our resources to hire the additional health workers that our country severely needed at that time,” Ona said at a press conference at the DOH headquarters in Manila.
Universal healthcare
Defending the program, which the Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional, Ona said the bulk of the allocation went to the government’s universal healthcare program.
“Kalusugan Pangkalahatan is not a simple and fast program to implement but with the expansion in fiscal space provided by the DAP concept, the Department of Health was able to move at a faster pace than was otherwise possible,” said Ona.
Based on his report, 44 percent, or P1.496 billion, was allotted to subsidize the PhilHealth coverage of over 2.9 million indigent families in 2011, with the biggest number of beneficiaries coming from Central Luzon (575,187 families) and Central Visayas (575,081).
At least 23 percent of the DAP funding the health department got, equivalent to P770 million, was used to augment the 2011 maintenance and other operating expenses, and capital outlay requirements of the following hospitals:
Lung Center of the Philippines (P105 million), Philippine Children’s Medical Center (P280 million), Philippine Heart Center (P357 million), Women’s and Children’s Protection Unit of 16 DOH hospitals (P17 million) and 12 other DOH hospitals (P10.7 million).
Financial assistance worth P76 million in 2011 and 2012 was given to indigent patients in various hospitals. The amount covered medical expenses, such as medicines, medical and surgical supplies, laboratory and diagnostic imaging procedures, said Ona.
ARMM transition
To support the ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) Transition Investment Support Plan in the same years, P756 million was given to seven provinces in the region for health infrastructure development; construction, repair and renovation of 194 health facilities; and procurement of life-saving medical equipment and diagnostic tools in 231 health facilities, including land and sea ambulances.
Hiring of nurses
A total of P294 million was used to augment funding for the Registered Nurses for Health Enhancement and Local Service.
With the additional funds, the DOH was able to deploy 11,500 nurses to address the problem of lack of staff and improve accessibility to quality healthcare services in 1,529 municipalities, Ona said.
“With additional funding from funding under the DAP concept, various DOH programs and projects were achieved to address the health needs especially the very poor,” he said.
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