Palace-SC clash is inevitable

ON DISTANT SHORE
By Val G. Abelgas

It’s obvious President Aquino is not about to give up his pork barrel or take his humiliation on the legality of his Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) sitting down.

Stopped by the Supreme Court in two unanimous decisions from continuing to disburse funds without congressional authorization using two pork barrel programs – the Priority Development Assistance Program (PDAF) and the DAP – Aquino, through Budget Secretary Florencio Abad Jr., now wants more than P1.3 trillion in funds not covered by the General Appropriations Act at his disposal in 2015, the year before the 2016 presidential elections.

The amount represents about 50% of the P2.6-trillion national budget that Abad submitted to Congress, meaning the President would have at his sole discretion about half of the national government’s budget for that crucial year.

According to former national treasurer Leonor Briones, convenor of Social Watch Philippines, this new pork barrel fund includes the President’s Special Purpose Fund — another euphemism for pork barrel — P378.603 billion, the Un-programmed Expenditures worth P123.056 billion, the Internal Revenue Allotment worth P389.860 billion, and interest payments (debt servicing) worth P372.863 billion. The amount, Briones said, does not include Malampaya Funds that are also automatically appropriated, and Off Budget funds like the Motor Vehicles Users’ Charge and those coming from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).

On top of that huge special presidential fund is another pork barrel-type fund that, according to Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, would cost taxpayers P20.9 billion.

Ridon said this DAP-like mechanism is the so-called Grassroots Participatory Budgeting (GPB) process, which allows the national government to fund various pet projects in chosen local government units (LGUs) around the country, Ridon said. The GBP, he said, includes a provision that enables local government units to cancel and replace projects already indicated in the annual GAA or national budget.
“By allowing the cancellation and replacement of projects already identified in the General Appropriations Act, the GPB has actually opened a new way for the executive department to usurp the congressional power of the purse,” Ridon said.
This runs counter to the July 1 Supreme Court that struck down as unconstitutional the “funding of projects, activities, and programs that were not covered by any appropriation in the General Appropriations Act.”

While his spokespersons continue to assure the public that Malacanang respects and would abide by the Supreme Court decision, Aquino continues to defy the tribunal with these lump sum appropriations. In addition, he has basically challenged the court’s definition of “savings” by asking Congress to redefine the word through a joint resolution.

The congressmen and senators, beneficiaries of millions of pork barrel funds for years, of course, apparently don’t want to lose the manna from heaven and made it known that they were ready to follow the presidential request, insisting that the Constitution does not categorically define the word “savings.”

The pro-Aquino lawmakers were oblivious of the fact that the justices, the final arbiters of constitutional and legal questions, had clearly defined it when it said the executive branch was wrong in declaring unreleased and unobligated funds as savings because these were for projects that have not yet been discontinued with finality.

In the proposed 2015 national budget, savings are now defined as portions of allocations that “have not been released or obligated” due to “discontinuance or abandonment of a program, activity or project for justifiable causes, at any time during the validity of the appropriations.”

With this definition, funds for projects that have not started within the first six months of the year can already be declared as savings by the Executive branch.

“The new definition of savings found in the 2015 NEP violates the third and fourth principle laid down by the Supreme Court. By allowing the Executive branch to effectively discontinue, stop or fail to begin the implementation of an approved [project or program] even in the early parts of the fiscal year to forcibly turn the appropriations for such into savings, the Executive has exceeded its delegated authority and impinge with impunity,” Ridon said.

What would happen once Congress follows that definition is that the Executive Branch would include big-budgeted items in the budget and then discontinue it so the funds could be transferred to a special fund that can be disbursed by the President without congressional appropriations. This is definitely a violation of the Constitution.

Aquino has never been known to accept defeat nor acknowledge a mistake. When the SC ruled unanimously to strike down a Truth Commission that he created to go after officials of the Arroyo administration, he made the Chief Justice pay for it with an impeachment. He has been at war with the Supreme Court since then.

Aquino is putting both the Executive and Legislative branches in direct confrontation with the Judiciary, thereby putting in jeopardy the balance of power and checks-and-balance mechanisms established by the Constitution. The Supreme Court has remained silent throughout Aquino’s tirades and schemes, but I don’t think they are ready to buckle down. I’m almost certain the tribunal will again rule as unconstitutional any counter-move taken by Aquino and his cohorts. What will the arrogant Aquino do then?

A direct clash between the Executive Branch and the Judiciary is inevitable, which would trigger a constitutional crisis and give military adventurists a chance to move in. The nation must brace for the storm.

(valabelgas@aol.com)