Senate postpones hearing with Abad on DAP

MANILA, Philippines – Partially granting the request of Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, the Senate postponed its hearing on the administration’s controversial spending program but only by 3 days. 

Senate finance committee chairman Francis Escudero said Abad wrote his panel to request to move the schedule for the inquiry on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) from July 21 to July 30 because his department is “heavily swamped” with preparations for the 2015 budget. 

“Yes, we understand that the budget season is here. We considered and thus agreed to postpone the hearing but only until July 24 and with the understanding that Secretary Abad should be there,” said Escudero in a statement on Friday, July 18.

Quoting Abad’s letter, Escudero said that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is “in the midst of finalizing the Proposed 2015 Budget and the President’s Budget message in preparation for submission to Congress” on July 30.

Abad also told the Senate that his department is helping draft the President’s State of the Nation Address on July 28. 

The Senate finance committee last week summoned Abad to a hearing on the DAP after the Supreme Court declared key acts under the program unconstitutional like transferring funds from one branch of government to another, undermining Congress’ power of the purse.

The DAP is an economic stimulus program of the Aquino administration that started in 2011, where funds for slow disbursing projects were moved to fast-disbursing ones to spur economic growth.

Escudero said he wanted Abad to clarify reports that the total disbursed funds under the DAP amounted to P372 billion, which did not tally with the list the DBM provided his committee.  “What DBM gave to the committee only amounted to over P200 billion.” 

The senator said that he will also ask Abad to identify the fund releases under the DAP that the High Court considered unconstitutional.

Escudero also asked Abad to submit to his committee the complete list of all the Special Allotment Release Orders that were disbursed under the DAP, including the projects, purpose and amounts. 

The so-called chief architect of DAP, Abad drew criticism and faced calls for his resignation to take accountability following the Court decision. The secretary offered to resign but President Benigno Aquino III rejected this while continuing to defend the legality of DAP. Abad is a key ally, adviser and partymate of Aquino. (READ: Abad: I take full responsibility for DAP)

The Court ruling on the DAP is a political defeat for the administration, with Aquino’s popularity dropping to an all-time low after the release of the decision, according to surveys. This week, the president delivered two major speeches to convince the public of the constitutionality and economic benefits of DAP.

How to craft the budget?

Escudero said he needs data from the DBM on DAP to help his committee ensure that the budget the Senate will pass complies with the Supreme Court ruling. The Senate finance committee is in charge of the passage of the budget in the chamber.

In an interview with Rappler on Thursday, Ateneo School of Government Dean Antonio La Viña said that Congress should use the Supreme Court ruling to exercise a greater role in the budget-making process. 

“Congress has to be very serious about its role in budgeting. There has to be a congressional office that really does the budget. The budget now is done by the [budget department], given to Congress. It should be the DBM, working with the congressional budget office, which has a permanent, professional staff: economists, governance specialists, lawyers who will do this,” he said.

The Senate finance committee opened its investigation into the DAP even before the Court decision was released on July 1 but postponed its inquiry out of courtesy to the tribunal’s deliberations. – Rappler.com