BEHIND THE SCENES
Alfred P. Dizon
Our perennially tipsy neighborhood philosopher, in yet
another of our roadside talks was all praises for Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales
and Justice Sec. Leila De Lima.
He said the move of the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate
President Aquino, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and other officials in
connection with the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) was
long overdue but a welcome development.
In the case of De Lima, he said it was good she had the
balls for standing up against what he called the “spoiled and immature brat,”
(all 12 million of them nationwide) that is the Iglesia ni Kristo, which he said,
is now flexing its muscles as next year’s polls near.
According to our philosopher, the INC should have
realized that De Lima was only following up a complaint of illegal detentionby
an INC minister against its top officials and this was a purely legal or police
matter – not a matter of religion. He said the call of the INC rallyists for De
Lima to respect the separation of the church and the state following was
misplaced.
“Come to think of it, INC members are told by their top
officials whom to vote and they do so blindly. Separation of church and state
my a…s That is the reason politicians are afraid of them if they go against
their wishes. I appreciate more other religious groups like the Roman Catholic
Church since they just tell their flock whom to vote according to their
conscience,” he said.
***
Anyhow, back to Morales who told the House appropriations
committee chaired by Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab that, “There is already a
fact-finding report that is currently under evaluation by the ombudsman. If we
approve it, preliminary investigation follows. But we want to be sure of the
law and the jurisprudence.”
She also said she is evaluating another
fact-finding report on a plunder case against Abad which be resolved within this
month.Another report she is considering deals with the alleged misuse of P900
million in Malampaya funds. The officials accused in this case include former
President now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former Agrarian Reform
secretary Nasser Pangandaman.
But Malacañang said the President is immune
from suit. “This is based from constitutional principle that an incumbent
President of the Philippines is immune from suit,” Secretary Herminio Coloma
Jr. of the Presidential Communications Operations Office said in a statement.
Coloma, however, acknowledged the power of
the ombudsman to investigate.
“The Office of the Ombudsman is empowered by
law to conduct such investigation as stated by Ombudsman Morales in reply to a
question during a hearing on the proposed budget of her office in the House of
Representatives,” he said.Abad said, “It’s the process of the ombudsman and we
respect it. We will cooperate. We do want to put a closure to this issue.”
***
He said the Supreme Court has upheld in the
DAP cases the “doctrine of operative fact, meaning that what we did was
constitutional, legal and regular, and we implemented the economic stimulus
program in good faith.In fact, the Supreme Court declared that DAP benefited
the country. We stand by our position that DAP was an urgent and appropriate
response to the then under-spending problem that was slowing down the economy.
The resulting uptick in spending and growth validated our position,” he said.
“We also commit to align, as we have already
done, our savings, augmentation and realignment policies along with SC
decision,” he added.
The budget chief noted that “there was no
insinuation of graft” in the tribunal’s ruling, adding the ombudsman has not
yet sought any comment from them.
“This is just the fact-finding stage. If they
go to preliminary investigation, that’s when they will require us to comment,”
Abad, who is a lawyer, said.
The Supreme Court stopped the
administration’s economic stimulus program in 2014 after declaring at least
four practices under it as unconstitutional.
***
This,
as anti-corruption groups last week called on the Supreme Court to declare
unconstitutional certain provisions in the 2015 national budget, including
National Budget Circular No. 559 (NBC 559) and some provisions under the
Special Purpose Fund.
In a
petition filed by anti-corruption groups, led by former national treasurer
Leonor Briones, sought to be declared unconstitutional were Sections 70 and 73
of the 2015 General Appropriations Act (GAA)
Section
70 of the 2015 GAA defines savings as portions or balances of any unreleased
appropriations in the budget law which have not been obligated. Section 73
specifies rules in realignment of allotment classes and reprioritization of
items in the appropriations.
The
petitioners asked the SC to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) that
would prevent the Executive Department from further implementing the challenged
provisions in the 2015 GAA.
“Petitioners
call on this Honorable Court to prevent the Legislative and the Executive from
making the Constitution or the ruling in the Belgica or Araullo illusory.
Whether it is through deceptive or creative schemes, the Executive and the
Legislative branches should be prevented from doing indirectly what they cannot
legally do directly,” the petition stated.
***
The
Belgica and Araullo decisions pertain to the declaration of the Priority
Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and certain practices under the Disbursement
Acceleration Program (DAP) as unconstitutional.
The
other petitioners in the case are lawyer Ramon Acebedo Pedroza, Frances Irene
Rallonza Bretana and Mai Palacio Paner who are members of the Scrap the Pork
Network; Rodolfo Aranas Fabricante of the Overseas Filipino Workers Chamber of
Commerce and Industry, Inc.; Amorsolo Competente, president of Alert and
Concerned Employees for Better SSS; David Diwa, president of National Labor
Union; EleuterioTuazon, president of the Philippine Association of Labor
Unions; Bienvenid oLorque, member of the Board of Directors of United Filipino
Seafarer; Leodegario De Guzman, president of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang
Pilipino; Diego Landagan Magpantay of the Citizens Crime Watch-Anti-Corruption
Task Force; Alain del Pascua, president of the Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan
All Filipino Democratic Movement; Sanlakas through its president Marie Marguerite Lopez and secretary
general Jose Aaron Pedroza Jr.; and the Metro Manila Vendors Alliance-Quezon
City represented by its secretary general Flora Santos.
Named
respondents were Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Budget Secretary
Florencio Abad, Senate President Franklin Drilon, and House Speaker Feliciano
Belmonte.Former Sen. PanfiloLacson was with the petitioners during the filing
of their case before the SC.
***
In a
statement, Lacson said the provisions challenged in the petition are contrary
to the rulings of the SC in PDAF and DAP cases.
On top
of Sections 70 and 73 of the 2015 GAA, the petitioners named provisions of the
Special Purpose Fund that should be declared unconstitutional. These are the
the E-Government Fund (for strategic information and communication technology
projects), the International Commitment Fund, the Miscellaneous Personnel
Benefit Funds, the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund, the
Pension and Gratuity Fund, and the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Program
Fund.
In the
case of NBC 559, the petitioners said it should be declared unconstitutional
because it was issued in line with Section 73 of the 2015 GAA.
“We
are filing the petition before the High Court to take action on the
unconstitutionality of the spending for the year 2015 in contraventions of the
decisions on the PDAF and the DAP. We believe that the Court should intervene
because their decisions have been ignored. Not only that, the Constitution has
been ignored and laid aside as well,” Briones, who is now with Social Watch
Philippines, said in a statement.
***
Thanks to advances in technology like the
email and internet, we can be abreast of issues or developments in the blink of
an eye. I remember the typewriter which we used to write our stories in the
80s. Ahh, it seems not so long ago.
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