SC urged to resolve questions on DAP legality

MANILA, Philippines - Petitioners questioning President Aquino’s Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) urged the Supreme Court yesterday to resolve their legal questions despite the bid of the administration to dismiss the case for being moot.

In a joint statement, they said the cancellation of the DAP – as announced by Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza in oral arguments last Tuesday – should not end the constitutional issues raised in their nine consolidated petitions.

The statement was signed by former Iloilo representative Augusto Syjuco, lawyers Jose Malvar Villegas Jr. and Manuelito Luna; Philippine Constitution Association, Integrated Bar of the Philippines, party-list groups Bayan Muna, Kabataan and Gabriela; Greco Belgica, Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees, and the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption. 

Petitioners reiterated that DAP was illegal and the government should be held accountable.

They said allowing such illegal practice to pass without judicial review “endangers society and the next generation.”

“The cancellation of the program does not cancel the illegal act committed or the illegal use for political purposes or other objective. The attempt of the government to make our petitions moot is an attempt to make illegal actions impossible to punish,” they stressed.

In oral arguments, Jardeleza told the SC justices that the government has already stopped using the DAP since the middle of last year, leaving no basis for legal questions to proceed.  – With Paolo Romero, Jose Rodel Clapano