MAGSALITA KA NA ABAD KUNG SINO SINO ANG GUMAMIT NG DAP Budget Secretary Florencio Abad cannot invoke plans to appeal the Supreme Courts unanimous ruling on the unconstitutional Disbursement Acceleration Program to elude a mounting clamor for him to make a full disclosure of the P147-billion DAP, Buhay Partylist Lito Atienza said yesterday. “Until now Secretary Abad has been tight-lipped, while Malacanang apologists continue to justify the DAP by mere rhetoric. He was even quoted as saying that he has yet to read the SC decision,” Atienza told reporters. “This isn’t fair, he has to make a full disclosure of the extent of the program and explain if the funds released thru DAP were really used for development projects, and not as a reward to loyal political subalterns of the President,” he said. Atienza said that Abad should not just wait for the time that Congress invites him for an inquiry, nor should he ask President Aquino to justify it in behalf of the people who planned and executed this controversial program, he said. A full disclosure by Abad of where exactly from the already appropriated items in the budget law did he source the funds he pooled as savings, christened as DAP, and realigned to other projects is urgently needed, Atienza noted, in light of revelations by several lawmakers that they were simply told in 2012 to submit a list of projects they want implemented. The instruction to endorse projects was in a confidential note to senators by then Senate finance committee chairman Franklin Drilon, and the recipients of the letters presumed these projects covered by additional funding were to be deemed as budget amendments. There was no mention of DAP. Atienza also expressed concern that President Aquino actually approved a memorandum granting “omnibus authority” to “consolidate savings/unutilized balances and their realignment” on June 25, 2012, based on Abad’s recommendation. Atienza cited Abads order which confirmed that Mr. Aquino “has already approved our request for authority to pool savings to fund the Disbursement Acceleration Plan in October 12,2011 and our request for omnibus authority to pool savings/unutilized balance in FY2011 last December.” “This actually explains that DAP wasn’t crafted overnight, but those behind it wanted the President to approve it, even if there are already talks that it would be unconstitutional,” he said. “HIndi naman pwede na dahil inaprubahan ng Pangulo, kahit unconstitutional ay pipilitin nilang gawing legal, “he said. Atienza said that if indeed Malacanang wanted to speed up allocation of funds to so-called development projects, they could have merely asked Congress for a supplemental budget, “ he said. Atienza reiterated his earlier statement that if the amount disbursed thru DAP by Secretary Abad, to the senators and congressmen were channeled to Napoles NGOs and the like, then a clear case of plunder should be filed against them.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 06:28:33 +0000
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