Deceitful, treacherous lump sums at P-Noy’s disposal

No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.—Psalm 101:7

We welcomed the Supreme Court decision declaring the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) unconstitutional. It raised our spirits high. It affirmed our assertion that a multibillion-peso fund that legislators are allowed to dispense with at their discretion breeds corruption and patronage politics, among others. We continue to keep close watch if such fund, now diverted to government agencies, is still under the control of legislators (mostly under the calamity fund).

In the course of our campaign to abolish all pork, it has been revealed that President Aquino has its own lump sums in the budget, overall savings, off-budget lump sums such as the Malampaya Fund, and most recently, the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP)—all at his sole discretion for disposal. We are appalled over the insistence of Malacañang on the need for and legality of the DAP.

What makes DAP starkly different from PDAF is that there is no constitutional or any legal covers that allow the realignment of funds not found in the General Appropriations Act. The Constitution only allows the realignment of funds to “augment any item in the general appropriations law.” In the Department of Budget and Management report, a total of P142.23 billion has been spent so far under DAP, with P83.53 billion spent in 2011 and another P58.7 billion in 2012. These huge amounts were spent on budgetary items many of which were not in the 2011 or 2012 General Appropriations Act. To date, this is one of the present contentious issues in the petition left unanswered before the Supreme Court.

As we await the decision of the high court, we remain steadfast and stand with the majority of our people in seeking an end to this deceit and treacherous budget allocation. We sustain our fight against any form of pork barrel, be it PDAF or DAP. We remain biased for truth and we demand  accountability for President Aquino’s abuse of power to promote patronage politics by usurping the public funds in the form of DAP. The DAP is clandestinely used by the President to advance his personal and political interests. The DAP has been a finance tyrant that dictates the disbursements of people’s money according to the President’s will alone.

We pray that the leaders of the high court may hear the cry of the people that the Constitution be upheld over politics and greed, that the people’s money is utilized to serve the needs of the poor and marginalized, that corruption be put to an end, and good governance, guided by uprightness and morals, be seen among our public servants.

—NARDY SABINO,

convenor, Church People’s Alliance Against Pork Barrel,

standforthepoor@gmail.com