Osmeña to Aquino: Bashing SC on DAP ruling won’t help

Sen. Serge Osmeña III INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino III’s move to publicly confront and challenge the Supreme Court over its ruling declaring the controversial disbursement acceleration program as unconstitutional might not sit well with the public, Sen. Serge Osmeña III said on Wednesday.

President Aquino must realize that eventually, he is constrained to abide by the Supreme Court’s final ruling on the DAP even if it turns out to be unfavorable.

“PNoy said he will file a motion for reconsideration, so he’s submitting to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court,” Osmeña said in a phone interview.

“That’s why we have the separation of powers. Congress passes the law, but if there’s a question as to the interpretation of the law, it’s the Supreme Court. Therefore, we have a saying: the Supreme Court is right even when it’s wrong,” he added.

He said the President ‘s challenge to the tribunal, marked by two speeches attacking its unanimous decision invalidating most of the activities under the DAP, could be detrimental to the administration.

He warned the public would not look upon President Aquino’s tirade favorably because the system has been designed to protect the small, not the big people. Only the big people usually have the means to challenge unanimous decisions, according to Osmeña.

“The little people will say, this is not a good example for us if the Supreme Court is challenged because we wouldn’t have been able to do that. We want people to obey the law, we want people to respect the judiciary, that’s the referee of the legal system,” he said.

“If we run to the court, it’s the one that should make the decision. If I don’t follow it, it means I’m Mr. Big. That makes things worse instead of better,” he said.

He agreed with views of some political observers that the President’s recent actions over the DAP could deplete his political capital.

“This is a system of government adopted 100 years ago, and we want it to stay. If the Supreme Court issues a ruling, do not create trouble,” he said of the country’s presidential system, which has worked through a system of checks and balances among the executive, judiciary and legislative branches.

The administration could have quietly filed a motion for reconsideration, but the President had to make two major speeches saying the Supreme Court was wrong, he pointed out.

“As I said, the Supreme Court is correct even when it’s wrong. If you disagree, just accept it,” he said.

A well-meaning President could not ask the judiciary and Congress to step aside and let it encroach on their powers on the merits of its program that it believed would be good for the people, he further said.

“I think these guys are starting to believe their own propaganda,” he added.

Mr. Aquino must put a limit to his stubbornness, Osmeña said.

“Somebody has to talk to him and say, ‘that’s too much,'” he said.

The President has been talking about the good projects and the benefits brought about by the DAP, a mechanism under which it pooled savings and unspent funds and allocated these for projects considered priority.

He has also insisted on his power to do this under the 1987 Administrative Code.

The Supreme Court ruling against the DAP did acknowledge the benefits it brought, but also said the manner by which it declared savings and used the funds did not conform to the Constitution.

Among the practices it invalidated were the allocation of funds for programs not covered by any appropriation in the national budget, the cross-border transfer of savings, and the declaration of withdrawn allotments and unreleased appropriations as savings before the end of the fiscal year.

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