DAP Update: P153M FOR CAYETANO, P156M FOR TRILLANES A side from being used to facilitate the ouster of Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona, who President Aquino considers an enemy from the start of his administration, funds in the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) were heavily employed to boost the chances of Aquino’s political allies, primarily Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Peter Cayetano, in the 2013 elections. Trillanes and Cayetano were members of the administration Team PNoy coalition in the 2013 polls. DAP documents the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) submitted to the House of Representatives showed that between October 2012 and the campaign period for the previous national elections, Cayetano received a total of P156 million and Trillanes, P153 million from the DAP classified as various infrastructure and local roads. For Cayetano, DAP disbursements totaled P46 million on Oct. 2, 2012 for 12 projects, P10 million for four projects on Dec. 10, 2012; P4.938 million for one project on Dec. 11, 2012, and P98 million for 30 projects on March 20, 2013. Trillanes obtained from the DAP P58 million for 23 projects on February 12, 2013, the exact day that the campaign period started for the 2013 senatorial race. Cayetano and Trillanes are expected to team up for the presidential elections in 2016. The Palace and Aquino have been constantly claiming that the DAP was a pool of funds generated from savings in the budget meant to stimulate the economy saying that the program merely tapped legislators to speed up government spendings. Recent revelations on how the DAP funds were disbursed showed a pattern of the funds all geared towards political objectives of the Aquino administration and the Liberal Party (LP). The DAP was also used to seal the vote of members of the House of Representatives to impeach Corona which was clearly shown in the DAP documents. Reports that followed showed that the Aquino administration used some P6.5 billion DAP funds before, during, and after the Corona impeachment trial to supposedly bribe senators and members of the House of Representatives. Representatives allegedly received some P5 billion in DAP funds, while senators received P1.5 billion. Listed among the recipients of P10 million each from DAP, based on the DBM list, were Representatives Abad, Abaya, Acop, Alcala, Almonte, Amante, Amatong, Apacible, Apostol, Apsay, Arago, Asilo, Bagatsing, Bagulat, Balindong, Banal, Bautista, Belmonte, Benitez, Barros, Biazon, Calixto-Rubiano, Cari, Castelo, Catamco, Climaco, Collantes, Cosalan, Dalog, Daza, Del Mar, Del Rosario, Antonio; Del Rosario, Antonio Rafael; Espina, Evardone, Fernandez, Fortuno, Garay, Garcia-Albano, Golez, Gomez, Gonzales, N; Gonzales, F; Hataman-Salliman, Javier, Labadlabad, Limkaichong, Lopez, Loyola, Maliksi, Mandanas, Marcelino, Matugas, Ocampo, Ocampo, Quimbo, Ramos, Relampagos, Robes, Roman, Romarate, Sacdalan, Salvacion, Sarmiento C., Sarmiento M., Sema, Singson, Tanada, Tinga, Trenas, Tupas, Umali C., Umali R., Ungab, Valencia, Villarica and Violago. The lone P9 million went to a Rep. Mendoza J. The documents also showed the heaviest DAP disbursements were during the whole process in ousting Corona, from days before his impeachment and after the Senate impeachment court voted to convict him. Three disbursements from DAP were made during the period on October 12, 2011 for P67.4 billion; P11 billion in December 21, 2011 and P21.2 billion in June 27, 2012 or a total of P99.6 billion which was 69 percent of the total P144.4 billion released from the DAP from 2011 to 2013, according to the DBM documents. The disbursement was recorded under various infrastructure including local projects. Subsequent releases were made to Senator Pia Cayetano who started receiving DAP allotment on Dec. 9, 2011 or two days before Corona was impeached. Cayetano received 13 special allotment release orders (SAROs) on the particular day from P1 million to P10 million or a total of of P33 million and some P10 million a month before the impeachment on Nov. 9. Most of the senator-judges also received their SAROs under VILP on Dec. 11, Dec. 13 and Dec. 22, 2011. On Dec. 13, 2011, 36 SAROs were issued to Senator Antonio Trillanes for projects costing P250,000 to P7 million or a total of P73.31 million. The list also showed on the same day, Senator Aquilino Pimentel III received five SAROs totaling to P90 million, then Senate President and Presiding Senate impeachment court judge Juan Ponce Enrile got five SAROs amounting to P35 million, Senator Serge Osmena III got five SAROs at P100 million and Senator Alan Peter Cayetano received three SAROs worth P44.5 million. Cayetano also received a separate P5 million SARO for the Crime Laboratory of the Philippine National Police and another P5 million for financial assistance and scholarship, both on Dec. 9, 2011. On Dec. 8, 2011, then lead prosecutor Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. received a DAP SARO worth P15 million. On Dec. 21, 2011, then senator-judge turned Senate President Franklin Drilon received a single SARO at P10 million under VILP. Belmonte received a single SARO on Dec. 22, 2011 amounting to P95.1 million.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 03:20:07 +0000