Palace, Congress ordered to answer another GAA petition

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the executive and legislative branches to answer a petition seeking to void this year’s General Appropriations Act (GAA).

After rejecting a similar petition filed by former Iloilo Rep. Augusto Syjuco Jr. for lack of merit, the high court decided not to immediately rule on a petition filed by a group led by former Biliran Rep. Glenn Chong.

The SC, according to its public information office, would like to get first the opinion of the Palace, the Senate and the House before deciding on the petition.

“The Court required respondents to comment within 10 days from receipt of the resolution,” the SC said in an advisory issued yesterday.

Ordered to answer the petition were Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

Chong’s group asked the high court to stop the government from implementing the national expenditure program and declare the GAA unconstitutional.

The petitioners assailed provisions covering over a trillion pesos or almost half of the P2.606-trillion national budget that are lump sum and discretionary funds, which the high court had declared unconstitutional when it ruled on the pork barrel issue.

The group said the lump sum appropriations in the budget include the P2-billion contingent fund, P1 billion for rehabilitation and reconstruction program, P31.1 billion for local government units, P7.4-billion international commitment funds, P118.1-billion miscellaneous personnel benefits funds, P140.6-billion pension and gratuity funds and P372.9-billion debt service fund.

They alleged that the “restructuring of the definitions of savings and augmentation and the provisions on utilization of savings” and “restructuring for the utilization of unprogrammed appropriations” were practiced under the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), parts of which the SC also voided last year.

The petitioners questioned the “legislators’ insertions” in the GAA amounting to P47 billion, which they said were similar to pork barrel funds.

Aside from Chong, the other petitioners were lawyer Manuelito Luna, student Aristarchus Lamarck Luna and members of the Samahang Magbabasura.

Meanwhile, Sen. Pia Cayetano expressed disappointment over the presidential veto on special provisions in the P2.6-trillion budget which would have authorized government cultural agencies to retain their income.

Cayetano lamented the President’s line-veto of several items that seek to lift the cap on income that may be retained and used as revolving funds by the National Museum, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

Cayetano, who chairs the Senate committee on education, arts and culture, introduced the provisions as part of the Senate amendments to the 2015 budget before the measure was submitted for the President’s signature.

Cayetano said the provisions would have allowed the three agencies to help save endangered heritage sites nationwide.

“These provisions only sought to give our cultural agencies the authority to retain the income generated from their own activities. Instead of making them beg for additional funding every year, isn’t it better that they use their own income?” she said.

“It doesn’t make sense that the little amount they earn has to be returned to the national treasury, given that the budget needed to maintain and protect our cultural agencies is inadequate,” Cayetano added. – With Christina Mendez