SC ruling on DAP pleases Speaker Belmonte

MANILA, Philippines–Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Wednesday said he was pleased with the Supreme Court decision on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) for acknowledging its positive effects on the economy and clarifying the powers available to the executive.

“On the whole, I was very happy about that ruling. It clarified what can be done and what cannot be done. It did not leave the executive with its hands tied, as we thought the first one had done,” he told reporters.

Voting 13-0, the court on Tuesday affirmed its earlier decision striking down the DAP, a stimulus program launched in 2011, for certain unconstitutional practices involving the use of government savings and budget realignments.

But it clarified that the ruling did not mean the invalidation of the 116 DAP projects discussed in its earlier decision in July, and that funding authorities retained the right under the Constitution to augment projects identified in the budget law.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.: Happy. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / LEO M. SABANGAN II

Little was known of the DAP until Sen. Jinggoy Estrada slammed the P50 million in additional pork barrel funds given by the administration as “incentive” to senators who voted to convict Chief Justice Renato Corona in his impeachment trial in 2013. Abad later said the funding came from the DAP.

Belmonte, vice chair of the ruling Liberal Party, said he considered the high tribunal’s ruling to be a step in the right direction.

Fire Abad

“We noticed that the ruling took note of the good things that came out of the DAP but still [noted] some things that should be done. On the other hand, it’s good that they made a clarification on the people being presumed innocent because that’s a cornerstone of the Constitution,” he said.

But Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, an ally of President Aquino, said the court’s decision made no difference on his call for the resignation of the DAP’s chief architect, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad.

“My call on the President to fire Secretary Abad or for Secretary Abad to resign irrevocably was never dependent on the issue of bad faith on the part of Abad. I based my strong recommendation for his dismissal on his recklessness and bad judgment in the deployment of appropriated funds, leading to practices that were judged then and now upheld to be unconstitutional,” he said.

“I must also reiterate my continuing condemnation of his allocation of a huge proportion of DAP funds and projects allocated to members of Congress to the tiny province of Batanes, which had the effect of contributing to his wife’s reelection in 2013,” he said, referring to Rep. Henedina Abad, a Deputy Speaker.

Investigate authors

“We simply cannot tolerate traditional politicians masking as reformers,” Bello said.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said the ruling announced on Tuesday on the government’s motion for reconsideration of the court’s July 1 decision should now pave the way for holding Aquino and his Department of Budget and Management (DBM) secretary accountable for “large-scale corruption, bribery and malversation of public funds.”

“They are the principal authors of the DAP who should be investigated and made accountable,” said Renato Reyes Jr., Bayan secretary general. “Abad concocted the DAP while Aquino signed all DAP memoranda that illegally pooled the savings from various implementing agencies.”

He said the group would “pursue cases and push for Mr. Aquino’s removal or resignation,” citing how the high court ruling “in a way vindicates” those behind the failed impeachment move against Aquino last year, following the release of the court decision that found his stimulus program unconstitutional.

CBCP urges probe

“The legal and moral grounds for Aquino’s removal from office are now stronger than ever,” Reyes said.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) called for an immediate investigation and prosecution of those “who knowingly and deliberately misused public funds in the manner declared illegal by the Supreme Court.”

Archbishop Socrates Villegas, the CBCP president, in a statement also called on legal academics and other concerned citizens to study the implications of the latest court ruling on the DAP.

Villegas said “some are disturbed by the fact that the resolution apparently lends its judicial fiat to disbursements for unappropriated items or projects.”

He said that “while it does seem like the court has maintained its initial characterization of transfer of funds from one branch of government to another, there are still pertinent concerns.”

Harry Roque, lawyer for one of the petitioners, said he would appeal Tuesday’s ruling.

Roque cited how the court’s favorable ruling on fund augmentation “just about restores a wide swath of unappropriated and not legislatively considered expenditures to the sole discretion of the Chief Executive.”

“This defeats the whole purpose of giving the power of the purse to the legislature. Precisely, a wide array of expenditures under the DAP have been made outside the GAA (General Appropriations Act),” Roque said in a statement on Wednesday.

“For all intents and purposes, the reversal by the Supreme Court reinstates and legitimizes the presidential pork barrel system without benefit of congressional approval and oversight,” he said.

Time to move on

With the ruling, it’s time to put the issue to rest and move on, according to Senate President Franklin Drilon and acting Minority Leader Sen. Vicente Sotto III.

“I think everyone has accepted the decision. The Supreme Court has spoken. Let us move on,” Drilon told reporters. Sotto shared Drilon’s position.

But Sen. Nancy Binay said the Senate should shed light on how P167 billion in public funds were pooled and spent for other government projects.

“It is about time that we get to the bottom of this issue, and uncover the persons responsible for hijacking the national budget,” Binay said in a statement. “The Supreme Court has ruled that what the DBM did was unconstitutional, and someone must be held to account for this.”

Patently unconstitutional

The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) said in a statement that the court ruling “essentially and basically affirms the patent unconstitutionality of the acts” of both Aquino and Abad.

“Contrary to another contorted and self-serving reading by the Palace, the decision strengthened calls and moves for accountability and liability for such gross and wholesale juggling of public funds into one huge presidential kitty,” said NUPL secretary general Edre Olalia.

“The message is loud and clear except to those who remain incurably narcissist and self-righteous [that] they could do no wrong,” Olalia said.

“Farmers have all the more reasons to demand Mr. Aquino’s ouster for plundering multibillion pesos in public fund and converting the national budget as presidential pork barrel,” said Rafael Mariano, chair of the peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.–With reports from Jerome Aning, Tina G. Santos and Rima Granali