Ang kupal naman nitong mga dilaw. Mahiya naman kayo lalo na kayong nagsusulat para kay AQUINO,,, magsama na kayo sa hukay! to BENIGNO S. AQUINO III AND RAISSA ROBLES from RAYMUND FORTUN: Sarah Raymundo Judy Taguiwalo Perlita Raña LEGAL OPINION THE SALVAVIDA CALLED SECTION 39 In justifying his actions which have been UNANIMOUSLY (13 yes, 0 no) declared by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional, the sitting President cited a certain Section 39 of the Administrative Code of the Philippines. Bãsa. EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE PROVIDED IN THE GENERAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT, any savings in the regular appropriations authorised in the GAA for programs and projects of any department, office or agency, may, with the approval of the President, be used to cover a deficit in any other item of the regular appropriations. Is the sitting Presidents legal argument sound? Sadly, NO. Every freshman law student knows the doctrine of constitutional supremacy. In case of a conflict between the Constitution and a special law, the Constitution is to be upheld. Time and again have we seen the Supreme Court strike down laws and actions of local officials for violating basic constitutional guarantees such as freedom of speech and of the press, equal protection of the laws, and due process of law. The Constitution is clear and unambiguous: a President is authorised to augment any item in the GAA: (i) ONLY from savings as defined by the GAA, and (ii) ONLY for his department. He cannot and i repeat CANNOT argue that there is nothing in Section 39 that limits his augmentation power to include other departments of government because OUR FUNDAMENTAL LAW SAYS SO. And there are two important points here: (1) were the funds used savings?; and (2) were the projects an item of the regular appropriations? These are the very points that the Supreme Court zeroed in as being in blatant violation of the Constitution. A president CANNOT transfer funds from one project to another except if the funds are savings as defined by law. A president CANNOT transfer funds from one branch of government to another. A president CANNOT transfer funds from one project into another project which was non-existent at the start of the year. The DAP projects can be accessed over the Net. Needless to state, NONE of them were of such an emergency or life-or-death situation as to merit the analogy of parking in a no-parking zone due to an emergency. None of the DAP funds were used because the Calamity Fund had been fully depleted before the end of the year. Being non-emergency projects, all that the President had to do was either ask for a Supplemental Budget, or wait for the next budget deliberations. He did not; he touched funds that should not have been touched. I correct myself. There WAS one DAP project that was an emergency. A 50 to 100 Million to 20 Senators (totalling Php1.1 Billion) had to be given, otherwise, they wouldnt vote to impeach a Chief Justice. Good faith pa din ba yon, o nanggagago na lang? Floyd Gumpal Gonda Jun Marr Denila Prof. Henry Francis B. Espiritu So this salvavida? I sincerely hope the user doesnt drown because of too much reliance on it.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 07:04:53 +0000
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