7-hour marathon

The Senate committee on finance, chaired by Senator Francis Escudero, held a marathon hearing on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) last Thursday.

Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Sec. Florencio Abad, Finance Sec. Cesar Purisima, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General Arsenio Balisacan, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Sec. Rogelio Singson, and 12 other Cabinet members attended the hearing.

No new arguments were presented by Abad and the Cabinet members to refute the decision of the Supreme Court (SC), declaring the 4 ACTS of the Executive Department unconstitutional in collecting and spending DAP funds.

Secretary Abad presented the argument that DAP, under a different name like Reserve Control Account, was also implemented by former Presidents Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada, and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

University of the Philippines (UP) Professor and former Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Sec. Benjamin Diokno, however, disputed Abad’s statement that past presidents had also pooled savings and then realigned them for other projects, most of which were not covered by any appropriation in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

The Reserve Control Account was not termed as savings, and was used principally to reduce a budget deficit.

Observers of the 7-hour marathon hearing, observed that no hard questions were asked, and some senators, led by Senate President Franklin Drilon, propounded questions intended to defend President Aquino’s and Sec. Abad’s position.

The star performer at Thursday hearing was surprisingly Senator Nancy Binay, who heretofore was silent in Senate hearings. Binay came well prepared with facts and figures and propounded questions one after the other to Abad, for about an hour.

Specifically, Binay questioned the P70 million allocation for stem cell research. The P2.8 billion payment of the debt of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC), involving an SGS account.

Binay also questioned the P750 million released to the province of Quezon to pay an outstanding debt to the Pagbilao Power Plant.

Binay raised the issues why certain priority projects like the upgrading of Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal-1 (NAIA-1) and the improvement of hospitals were not prioritized.

Binay also asked questions to Department of Transportations and Communication (DOTC) Sec. Joseph Abaya why savings of P14.5 billion was transferred to the DAP.

Binay questioned Abaya why the budget of P549 million for NAIA-1 was scrapped.

We can also add the question, why P5 billion could not have been allocated to the improvement of National Orthopedic Hospital (NOH) instead of privatizing it.

Another relevant question is with a total savings of P237 billion, why only P144 billion was released by President Aquino? Why P10 billion or more was not allocated as early as 2011 to buy generating sets to help solve the Mindanao power crisis.

One notable omission, Senator Escudero or any other senator should ask the question of how much DAP funds were given to senators and congressmen, and an accounting of their individual projects.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has submitted that congressmen received P17 billion in DAP funds.

It was also revealed how much of the DAP funds were channeled through Janet Lim-Napoles.

It was clear from the hearing that the allocations of DAP funds was determined solely by the President and Secretary Abad.

It was not explained what basis or criteria was used to decide the beneficiaries, and the amounts allocated were not determined.

Senators JV Ejercito, Sergio Osmeña, T.G. Guingona also propounded questions to the Cabinet members.

Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Sec. Virgilio Delos Reyes explained that the payment for compensation of landowners was ordered by a court.

Another impeachment complaint

Former Party-list Representatives Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casiño filed another impeachment complaint against President Aquino, citing culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust for entering into the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the United States (US) government and allowing US forces and equipment to be based in the country.

The complaint was endorsed by Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio, concerned teacher president, and Gabriela Partylist Rep. Emmi De Jesus.

Wrong charge by P-Noy

President Aquino accused the SC of doing a cross-border transfer of P1.8 billion of its funds, for the construction of the Manila Hall of Justice and P100 million for the Malabon Court of Justice.

SC denied that it was a cross-border transfer because it should not have been placed under the Department of Justice (DOJ). Definitely, the purpose was for the Judiciary — meaning construction of courts of justice.

Documents released by the high court debunked the insinuation of President Aquino that the high tribunal itself committed the same act under the DAP, which it declared unconstitutional.

An insider at the high court said there was no cross-border funding of the Manila project, which is under the Justice System Infrastructure Program (JUSIP), and explained that it just so happened that the item was listed under the Department of Justice (DOJ) of the executive branch in the GAA for 2012.

“Maybe the essential question should be: Why is the money for the courts with the DOJ, which is not part of the judiciary?” said the court official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

It looks like President Aquino is just throwing out charges without having been advised by legal experts.

Tidbits

Three persons said to be engaged in buy-and-sell of taxicabs and franchise were shot dead by an unidentified man. They are Aguido Roquita, Rosie Sumbeling, and Maria Irma Bautista.