Executive, legislative branches told to answer allegations on new lump sums

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday ordered the executive and legislative branches to comment on allegations by former Manila councilor Greco Belgica that this year’s national budget has lump sum appropriations similar to the scrapped Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

The SC also opted not to immediately rule on petitioner’s request for a status quo ante order that would prevent the government from touching four non-itemized appropriations in the 2014 General Appropriations Act.

Instead, it directed the Palace and Congress to first submit comments explaining the four assailed items in the budget – Unprogrammed Fund, E-Government Fund, Contingent Fund and Local Government Support Fund – which petitioner likened to the PDAF that was declared unconstitutional in November last year.

The SC gave respondents, including Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., ten days from receipt of notice to comply with the order.

In a 21-page petition for certiorari filed last Jan. 13, Belgica questioned the legality of the four items he branded as “lump sum discretionary funds in the 2014 GAA.”

Belgica, a petitioner in the celebrated court ruling on the congressional pork barrel, has argued that the executive and the legislative branches of the government have ignored the high court’s ruling against PDAF.

The four lump sum appropriations amount to P143.78 billion or 8.94 percent of the 2014 budget of P2.265 trillion.

He alleged that the inclusion of four lump sum items in the budget violates the constitutional provision on separation of powers because it leaves the legislative branch at the mercy of the President in terms of fund allocation.

Belgica did not include in his petition the calamity fund dedicated to the rehabilitation of Eastern Visayan provinces devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda last year.

“We never assailed the calamity fund. We believe it must be localized,” he said, apparently in response to lawmakers’ pronouncements that his petition was insensitive to victims of the calamities.

Petitioner alleged that the 2014 GAA continued the illegal practice of lump sum appropriations and simply passed on the responsibility of identifying specific projects for appropriation to the agencies concerned.