By Azer Parrocha
MANILA, (PNA) — Sen. Miriam Santiago on Tuesday revealed the Disbursement Acceleration Program released to some senators was not contained in the 2011 or 2012 budgets making them “illegal.”
DAP funds, she said, appeared to have been taken from alleged slow-moving projects which meant that no savings were generated.
“The first issue is that the DAP was not taken from savings. The second issue is that the DAP was not used to augment items in the budget that were previously authorized by Congress,” Santiago said in a statement.
The budget department, according to Santiago, should have sought the approval of Congress, because under the Constitution it is Congress that exercises the power of the purse.
Santiago also said that in 2011, Pres. Benigno Aquino III reacted to criticisms that his administration did not implement government programs fast enough.
Aquino authorized the budget department to set aside P85.5 billion for the DAP, without getting prior congressional approval as a response, she explained.
She suggested that to prevent the DAP from destroying the congressional power of the purse, the Congress should pass a law patterned after the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of the United States.
“Under American law, if the President discovers an enacted appropriation which has not been spent, the President cannot just cancel the appropriation,” Santiago said.
“The President must first ask Congress for a rescission, meaning a cancellation or cut-back of appropriated funds for a project no longer considered necessary,” she further said.
“The President cannot act by himself alone. Such a law would restore the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches,” she added.
Santiago said that it was Pres. Aquino himself who, as a senator filed Senate Bill No. 3121, the proposed Budget Control and Impoundment Act.
“Pres. Aquino’s proposed impoundment law takes a fiscally responsible position. If he doesn’t mind, I will simply refile it in the Senate, with an explanatory note that it was originally filed by Pres. Aquino,” Santiago said.