MANILA, Philippines – A day after two senators denied requesting for releases from the government’s Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) for the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the agency’s chief apologized to them for linking them to the controversial funding mechanism.
DOST Secretary Mario Montejo on Wednesday, October 9, issued a statement clarifying that Senator Pia Cayetano and former senator Panfilo Lacson did not seek “budgetary support to fund the program through the Disbursement Acceleration Program.”
Earlier, Montejo said the DOST’s Malnutrition Reduction Program received funds from DAP as requested by the two lawmakers, but both Cayetano and Lacson denied they asked for any releases for the said program.
Montejo explained that it was the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) that issued the P40 million to the DOST using the DAP mechanism.
“We assure the public that the funds are all documented and accounted for and are being used in our efforts to curb malnutrition in the country through science and technology,” he said.
“We hope this clears up the matter and we express our sincere apologies to Senator Pia Cayetano and former Senator Lacson for the confusion that may have resulted from our earlier statements.”
The DAP – mainly sourced from savings or unreleased General Appropriation Act items, as well as realignment and unprogrammed funds – was designed to ramp up spending and help accelerate economic expansion.
Critics however have called the mechanism illegal and improper, and have asked for its abolition.
Unanswered
Montejo’s statement however did not provide any answers as to why millions of pesos requested by Cayetano for DOST’s educational purposes were transferred to the agency’s malnutrition program.
In an earlier statement, Cayetano explained she “proposed amendments in the amount of P10 million to the DOST budget under the 2012 General Appropriations Bill” for training and scholarships, facilities and research and development.
But the DOST realigned the P10 million to its malnutrition program under DAP, as confirmed by the DBM. Cayetano said she was not told of the realignment.
The Palace also deferred to the DBM to explain the transfer of funds to a different project, albeit also of DOST. The DBM has yet to release a full list detailing which projects proposed by lawmakers were funded by DAP.
The DBM said only 9% of total DAP releases from October 2011 to Oct 1, 2013 — or P12B — was released to projects identified by legislators. Releases to lawmakers have been temporarily suspended following controversy over the misuse of government funds. – Rappler.com
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