Nancy tells 'busy' Abad: Don't evade DAP issue, explain

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Nancy Binay on Thursday urged Budget Secretary Florencio Abad not to skirt the issue of the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), which has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

“It may be true that Secretary Abad is busy in preparing the 2015 budget, but he can’t forever keep on evading the DAP issue,” Binay said in reaction to reports that Abad is busy preparing the 2015 national budget.

Binay reiterated the calls of her colleagues that it should be Abad who should explain how the DAP came about and report to the people how that funds were used under the Aquino administration.

“As budget chief, he owes the people an explanation on how taxpayers' money/funds are managed and spent,” Binay said.

Reacting to the Palace's statement that the DAP was created in good faith to spur economic growth, Binay reiterated the call for the budget department and the executive to make public the list of DAP projects and programs.

“If done in good faith, then they should release the list of projects and programs that were funded through DAP,” Binay said, adding that the public's doubt on the present administration would be erased once it reveals the list.

Earlier this week, Sen. Francis Joseph Escudero admitted that he did not know that the DAP existed until Abad went on explaining the funds given to senators following Sen. Jinggoy Estrada's "bombshell" last year that senator-judges got at least P5 -million each as reward in exchange for their vote to impeach former chief justice Renato Corona.

Asked if there was deception on the part of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) regarding the issue, Escudero said it was an internal arrangement within the agency and the executive branch.

“If there is a need to disclose, then they should (because that is why) many questions are raised. But ignorance does not excuse anyone,” he said. “But how can we be ignorant of something we did not even know that existed.”

Escudero echoed the Palace’s rationale that they used the Administration Code of 1987 as basis for the DAP, which the senator said “has been a practice by previous presidents.”

Since the DAP was an act of the executive branch, Escudero noted it is understandable why lawmakers were clueless about it until Abad made the fuss and started explaining it at the height of the controversy last year.

Escudero pointed out that any possible collusion between the President and Abad “is a matter of evidence” since there is no DAP to speak of under the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

“That is a matter of evidence because if you see the SAROs, it’s not even in the SAROs, walang banggit ang DAP sa GAA, wala ring banggit ang DAP sa SARO, so saan malalaman ang DAP, wala namang dokumentong nakakarating sa Senado o sa Kongreso kaugnay ng DAP.” Escudero added.

Meanwhile, Sen. Juan Victor Ejercito reiterated that the executive department explain the DAP to the public, not the senators.

“The real author of DAP is the Executive. We are just recipients but I also think that it is still the responsibility of the legislators to make sure that whatever funds were given to them are implemented,” Ejercito said.

Ejercito said receiving DAP funds would only be a problem if these were coursed through fake non-government organizations (NGOs).

There were allegations that funds under the DAP were alloted to fake NGOs identified with pork barrel scam queen Janet Lim Napoles.

“Then I think they have a lot of explaining to do,” Ejercito said.