Abad’s resignation rejected

President Aquino announced at a Cabinet meeting that Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad submitted a letter of resignation, which he immediately rejected.

President Aquino should have accepted the resignation to prove to the public at large that officials who have committed any illegality, and much more unconstitutional acts, will have to suffer the consequences. 

Better yet, Abad should have submitted an irrevocable resignation.

Earlier, Malacañang, through Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, has cleared Budget Secretary Abad of any wrongdoing or liability for the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) without any investigation.

At the same time, Secretary Abad has refused to release the list of 116 projects funded through the DAP. He always claimed that DAP had positive results and sustained the country’s economic gains. In that case, full disclosure is what the people need.

The Supreme Court (SC) ruled both the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the DAP as unconstitutional and illegal.

In the PDAF’s ruling, it explicitly ruled that it was illegal for 285 congressmen and 24 senators to propose and fund projects after the General Appropriations Act (GAA) was passed.

The illegality of the DAP is shown by the fact that only two persons in the Executive branch had chosen which projects to fund even if they are not in the approved budget.

Secretary Abad almost single-handedly chose DAP-funded projects and programs from 2011 to 2013 amounting to P170 billion as submitted by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to the SC. It is 17 times bigger than the P10 billion irregularities tied to the PDAF.

Abad even released about P500 million for projects in the smallest province — Batanes, his home province, which is the smallest district in terms of population and land area.

Sources from the intelligence community earlier reported that the DBM had purchased P135 million worth of Radio-Frequency Test Equipment. The purchased equipment was to be used for political purposes instead of national security.

In the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona, DAP’s role was to influence congressmen to endorse the impeachment complaint and for senator-judges in making a decision favorable to Malacañang.

How did the public benefit from the DAP being used by the Palace to convict Corona and from the purchases of spy gadgets?

On June 27, 2012, President Aquino approved the P250-million budget for the construction of Archive Building and Congressional E-Library authorizing Abad to withdraw the unobligated allotments of agencies. In addition, P475 million in DAP funds from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) was withdrawn in 2012, for the projects of some senators for agrarian reform beneficiaries. What happened to these projects?

The Commission on Audit (CA) also failed to issue Notice of Disallowances to DAP-funded projects even after the SC declared it unconstitutional.

Malacañang expressed concern over the unanimous ruling of the SC  declaring portions of the DAP unconstitutional, saying it could send wrong signals to honest public officials who might still be held liable despite their good faith.

Presidential spokesman Lacierda lamented the way the SC justices ruled on the criminal or administrative liability of hardworking government officials who are just doing their job, where good deeds are labeled as fraud only because funds were sourced from DAP.

The Palace wants 20 senators to account for how they spent P1.07 billion in DAP funds while refusing to account for P150-170 billion in DAP funds released to off-budget projects.

Malacañang is losing the public relations fight here.

They haven’t said “I am sorry.”

Friendly fire kills 6

General Emmanuel Bautista has admitted that 6 soldiers were killed and 13 wounded by a friendly fire in an encounter with Abu Sayyaf rebels in Sulu.

The mistake happened during a June 19 clash with the Abu Sayyaf when a 105mm howitzer fired by the marines against the rebels hit a marine position in Patikul.

This is not the first friendly fire incident by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Certainly, it is an indication of incompetence. The record shows that no one is charged for friendly fire casualties.

Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, public affairs chief of the AFP, said that General Emmanuel Bautista is undecided whether to file charges against the erring marines or not.

Another hazing report

Six De La Salle University (DLSU) Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) members have complained that their corps commander have submitted them to physical beating, kicking, and women forced to kiss fellow cadets.

This is the second incident involving DLSU. The first one being the students of DLSU of Saint Benilde where a sophomore student Guillo Cesar Servando  died after hazing rites in a Palanan house, Makati City.

DLSU must be penalized. Commission on Higher Education (CHED) should act and impose penalties.

NFA acting correctly

Newly-appointed National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Arthur Juan is acting correctly on the rice shortage situation. He has doubled the allocation for Metro Manila retailers from 70,000 to 140,000 sacks a day.  He added 100 retailers. Maybe he should add 500 more.

He is currently investigating the Pampanga NFA officials who allowed cooperatives to sell its rice allocation to a Bulacan rice mill.

The NFA must be alert year-round.

Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization Secretary Francis Pangilinan must closely monitor all releases of NFA rice, with cooperatives and retailers tasked to report their weekly rice distribution.

The NFA has decided to import 200,000 metric tons (MT) of rice. The price should be brought down by about P100 per MT, at least, from the last P467 per MT paid for 800,000 MT from Vietnam, which is considered overpriced.