Noy washes hands of DAP

MANILA, Philippines -  Former president Benigno Aquino III has maintained there is no basis to charge him criminally for the allegedly anomalous implementation of his administration’s Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) involving P72 billion in government funds.

In a 20-page comment filed before the Office of the Ombudsman on May 3, Aquino, through his lawyers Erdelyne Go and Mildred Yovela Umali, said his actions in connection with DAP’s implementation were “in accordance with law as well as the rules and regulations existing and presumed valid” at the time he was in office.

Aquino further said DAP’s implementation was “motivated solely by good faith and a desire to improve the operational efficiency of the government,” accelerate public spending and spur economic growth and development of the country.

Aquino submitted the comment before the ombudsman after the complainants led by Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate filed a motion for reconsideration urging the anti-graft body to reconsider its ruling clearing the former president of any liability for the DAP implementation.

The ombudsman dismissed the charges of graft, technical malversation and usurpation of legislative powers against Aquino and former budget undersecretary Mario Relampagos in connection with the program last March.

In his comment, Aquino said the complainants’ motion for reconsideration must be denied “for outright lack of merit.”

The former president explained he could not be charged with technical malversation as he was not the public official directly accountable for the release, safekeeping and utilization of the DAP funds.

Aquino said his mere authorization to use the DAP funds was not tantamount to being responsible for its actual spending.

As for the allegation of graft, Aquino said the complainants failed to show that his actions were attended with “evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence.”

Aquino also said it was not established in the complaint as to how DAP’s implementation caused undue injury to the government.

Aquino further said he could not be charged with usurpation of legislative powers as he merely performed his “executive functions” of augmenting the funds of government agencies.

“All (that) (r)espondent did was to exercise his prerogative to augment under Article VI, Section 25 (5) of the Constitution upon being notified that savings were already available. In other words, (r)espondent did not ‘withdraw funds as savings’ contrary to (c)omplainants’ insistence,” Aquino’s comment read.

The Supreme Court in 2014 found several acts under DAP as unconstitutional, among them was the declaration of unobligated funds as “savings” and the funds’ cross-border transfer to other offices outside the executive.

In her resolution released last March, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales approved only the filing of a case of usurpation of legislative powers against former budget secretary Florencio Abad.

Abad’s liability stemmed from his issuance of a national budget circular that allowed the withdrawal of a total of P72 billion worth of unobligated funds of government agencies under the executive department.

The funds were transferred to agencies outside the executive department for supposed implementation of various infrastructure works and other revenue-generating projects.

The ombudsman said Abad unlawfully encroached on the powers of Congress by effectively modifying the provisions on savings under the 2012 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

But Morales also dismissed the graft and technical malversation charges against Abad.