By Perfecto Raymundo
MANILA, (PNA) — The Supreme Court Tuesday set a special en banc session on Friday to tackle the Disbursement Acceleration Program.
According to Atty. Theodore O. Te, SC Public Information Office Chief and Spokesman, the SC will particularly deliberate on Friday the petition of former Iloilo Rep. Augusto “Buboy” Syjuco, Jr. seeking to stop the government from further disbursing funds through the DAP for relief operations in areas in Visayas devastated by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake last Oct. 15.
In his urgent motion, Syjuco argued the DAP should not be utilized to help the victims of the quake because the legality of such a “stimulus program” is still questionable.
The government plans to use the DAP following the pronouncements of Budget and Management Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad that the government’s calamity and contingency funds are almost depleted.
According to Syjuco, based on the website of the DBM, the government still has a remaining P6.95-billion calamity fund.
The oral arguments on the petitions against DAP will be conducted on Nov. 19, 2013.