Palace ready to answer Ping’s allegations on ‘pork,’ DAP

MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino administration is prepared to defend itself against allegations of former senator Panfilo Lacson that pork barrel funds and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) still exist in the 2016 national budget despite their invalidation by the Supreme Court.

“The government follows all existing laws and jurisprudence and will be ready to answer questions on budget execution before the proper forum,” Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. of the Presidential Communications Operations Office said yesterday.  

Lacson, who once served as President Aquino’s rehabilitation czar for victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda, warned the administration that officials of the departments of budget and management (DBM) and health (DOH) could be held liable for technical malversation.

In July 2014, the SC ruled that a significant portion of the DAP that was supposedly created to speed up public spending violates Article VI Section 25(5) of the 1987 Constitution and the doctrine of separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches.

Pork barrel or the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of lawmakers was also declared unconstitutional by the SC in November 2013, prohibiting the executive department from implementing lump sum allocations for projects of senators and congressmen.

But Lacson, who might either seek re-election as senator or run for president or vice president in the 2016 synchronized elections, insisted that there are billions of pork barrel funds in the 2016 national budget and that DAP still exists.

Lacson, a former Philippine National Police chief, showed proof that DAP is still very much around, like the memorandum issued by the DOH where a huge amount was allocated but was later transferred and realigned for other purposes, directly violating the SC ruling.

He cited numerous cases like hospitals in Balanga, Bataan and infrastructure and equipment needs of the Northern Mindanao General Hospital in Cagayan de Oro City.

The DOH and the DBM also allocated P50 million for the infrastructure and equipment needs of the Cagayan Valley Medical Center in Tuguegarao City, despite the absence of allocations under the 2015 Capital Outlay Funding Allocation for DOH hospitals, he said.

It is clear that the increases were not drawn from the DOH’s savings, Lacson pointed out.

“This is technical malversation,” he stressed. “How can you declare savings in the middle of the year?” 

Palace on Lacson’s claim

 Malacañang is prepared to defend the government against Lacson’s plan to file a petition before the SC seeking to nullify billions of pesos in alleged “reincarnated” pork barrel funds in the 2016 national budget.

Coloma said the government, particularly the DBM, is ready to refute the evidence that Lacson will present as proof of pork barrel funds.