Youth group: P23-B supplemental budget meant to save DAP, PDAF

MANILA, Philippines - A youth group believes that the proposed P23-billion supplemental budget is the administration's "last-ditch effort" to save the Disbursement Acceleration Program and Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said on Monday that it is "very irregular" for the Department of Budget and Management to request for additional funds weeks after the closing of the 2015 national budget deliberations.

"It’s like asking more money from your parents right after receiving your allowance,” Ridon said.

On the proposed supplemental budget, around P1.8 billion is allotted for payment of projects under the discontinued PDAF.

Majority Leader Rep. Neptali Gonzales II also questioned the proposed additional P7 billion for Yolanda rehabilitation which was already covered in the 2015 national budget.

Ridon noted that the Congress and the private sector have poured billions for rehabilitation and rebuilding but with no tangible effect.

“Instead of granting more funds to an administration that has criminally neglected the needs of Yolanda survivors, we have to first ask: what happened to the billions already allotted for the victims? Will P7 billion make the rehabilitation efforts move faster?" Ridon said.

The lawmaker noted that the President Benigno Aquino III is attempting to fund PDAF and DAP which were declared unconstitutional, adding that the supplemental budget is a supplement to corruption.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago earlier said that the funds used for local projects selected by legislators, which were granted in lump sums, may be considered pork barrel.

The Senate and the House of Representatives is set to finalize the 2015 national budget this week.

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