By Perfecto Raymundo
MANILA, (PNA) — Former Iloilo Rep. and erstwhile Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Director General Augusto “Buboy” Syjuco, Jr. Monday asked the Supreme Court to stop the government from disbursing public funds to assist earthquake-hit areas through the Disbursement Acceleration Program.
In an urgent motion for the issuance of a temporary restraining order, Syjuco, one of the petitioners who have assailed the constitutionality of the DAP, said the Aquino government should not be allowed to use the DAP to augment relief and rehabilitation operations in Bohol and Cebu provinces.
The 7.2 magnitude earthquake left 185 people dead and nine missing, and damaged some 35,000 structures.
Syjuco said government should stop allocating public funds under the DAP because it is unconstitutional.
“It is imminent that the respondents (Budget Secretary Butch Abad and Senate President Franklin Drilon) will utilize and implement that Disbursement Acceleration Program on the premise that the Calamity Fund is almost depleted,” the petition said.
“This is not true,” it added.
Syjuco hit Abad for issuing statements that the “calamity and contingency funds are about to be depleted.”
Abad earlier said rehabilitation programs for typhoon Pablo-hit areas will cost P11 billion while the calamity fund is only P7.5 billion.
“[Abad] is the Secretary of the Dept. of Budget and Management. It is his office which posted… data as to the balance of the Calamity Fund. How can he say that the Calamity Fund is almost depleted when there is a remaining [balance] of P6.095 billion as per his office?” the petition said.
Syjuco argued the DAP was not sanctioned by any law in spite of Malacanang’s pronouncements that it had the intention of expediting development by realigning funds from slow-moving projects.
“Constitutional doctrines must remain steadfast no matter what may be the tides of time. It cannot be simply made to sway and accommodate the call of situations and much more tailor itself to the whims and caprices of government and the people who run it,” the petition said.