MANILA, Philippines – After the release of a detailed list of Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) projects, Malacañang says it is up to legislators if they want to explain how funds allocated to their nominated projects were used.

On Thursday, September 18, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said the executive would not compel lawmakers to provide additional details on their projects to account for their funds.

“That would be their call, considering that, while they are fellow workers in government, they still belong to an independent branch of government,” Valte said.

For the part of the executive, however, Valte said the list released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Wednesday is the executive’s account of where every cent of the DAP went.

DAP, the administration’s controversial economic stimulus package, has been partly struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. 

A few days ago, the DBM was criticized for the “sanitation” of the DAP list that Budget Secretary Florencio Abad submitted to the House of Representatives. Critics also said the list had insufficient information on DAP projects, hence the release of the more updated list. The updated list is available to the public on the DBM’s website, in the agency’s bid to increase transparency.

The updated list now includes project proponents, special allotment release order (SARO) numbers for every project, dates SAROs were issued, project descriptions and the actual output per project.

It also includes DAP allotments to senators Miriam Defensor Santiago and Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, names that were absent from a previous list released by the DBM.

Valte said the inclusion of the new names is the result of the “consolidation” of all the DBM’s SAROs. In the past, senators have said they asked for funds for projects but were unaware it came from DAP.

Valte expressed confidence the list would answer questions of the Commission on Audit (COA).

The DAP was a special spending program under the Aquino administration meant to stimulate economic growth. Implemented from 2011 to 2013, it used funds pulled out from agencies after the executive classified them as savings pooled government savings and realigned unused funds to 116 high-priority projects. The administration has been under fire for the DAP after the Supreme Court declared parts of the DAP unconstitutional. – Rappler.com