SC rules certain ‘acts’ in DAP as unconstitutional

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MANILA – SC spokesman Theodore Te said in a press conference that the Supreme Court unanimously declared several acts under the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) unconstitutional.

Te added that the court “partially granted” the petitions of some stakeholders, relative to the weightier aspects of the DAP.

Nine petitions have been filed against the DAP, which some believe to be a manner of “presidential pork.”

The high court ruled that the following acts and practices under the DAP are unconstitutional:

a) The withdrawal of unobligated allotment from the implementing agencies and the declaration of the withdrawn unobligated allotments and unreleased appropriations as savings prior to the end of the fiscal year and without complying with the statutory definition of savings contained in the General Appropriation Acts

b) The cross-border transfers of the savings of the Executive to augment the appropriations of other offices outside the Executive

c) Funding of projects and activities and programs that were not covered by any appropriation in the GAA

The Supreme Court also nullified the use of unprogrammed funds.

SC lawyer Raymond Fortun told reporters from ABS-CBNnews.com that as of the moment, the weighty matters of the petitions were granted by the high court.

Fortun clarified, though, that “the SC did not categorically declare DAP as unconstitutional because the President does have the power to make fund transfers so long as they find Constitutional restrictions.”

As such, Malacañang still has the capacity to reinstate the DAP in the guise of  another form or under another name.

But the “SC has made clear on what acts are violative of the Constitution,” Fortun added.

Malacanang earlier announced that the “DAP is dead,” although it also denied that the DAP was used to bribe the senators.

The DAP made headlines when Senator Jinggoy Estrada alleged that some senators received amounts of P50 million to P100 million, reportedly in exchange for voting to convict former Chief Justice Renato Corona.