MANILA, Philippines — The Senate Committee on Finance has summoned Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to explain the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), key parts of which have been struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional.
Abad, seen as the architect of the DAP, was invited to the committee hearing scheduled for July 21, which will be the continuation of the previous proceedings by the Senate that were suspended out of courtesy to the high court.
Senator Chiz Escudero, chairman of the finance committee, has directed Abad to submit to the Senate panel the complete list of all the Special Allotment Release Orders (SARO) that were disbursed under the DAP, including "projects/purpose and the amount of the releases."
"You have been asking us which among our programs and projects were funded by the DAP... This is what we have been asking the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) too since our last committee hearing: where is the list?" Escudero pointed out.
Escudero wanted Abad to clarify reports that total disbursed funds under the DAP amounted to P372 billion, which did not tally with the P200 billion on the list provided by the budget department.
The senator said he would also ask Abad to identify the fund releases under the DAP that were considered unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
"If we want to scrutinize the DAP releases under the guidance of the SC decision, we need all the papers that only DBM can provide," he said.
As the government enters the budget season, the Senate panel is "carefully studying" the SC decision on the DAP to ensure that the next budget will be compliant with the court ruling.
Abad has offered his resignation, which was only turned down by President Aquino.
Read: Aquino rejects Abad's resignation