Supplemental budget to fund 10 former DAP projects

MANILA, Philippines - A large part of the proposed P22.5-billion 2014 supplemental budget that the House of Representatives is set to approve today or tomorrow is allocated for former Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) projects, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad told lawmakers last week.

The Supreme Court (SC) has stopped funding for the DAP after finding certain practices pertaining to it as unconstitutional.                

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad told lawmakers that 10 of the 26 items of appropriation in the proposed supplemental budget are for former DAP projects.

The biggest of them is P2.8 billion for the “operational transformation plan” of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

The amount is intended for the procurement of more patrol vehicles, pistols and rifles, and firearm identification machines.

However, Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop, a former police official, has questioned the PNP’s capability to spend the amount.

The PNP still has unused funds for patrol vehicles and firearms, Acop said.

Another DAP item in the supplemental budget is P300 million for an information technology project of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

The purpose of this fund is not clear, but a House source said part of it is for the purchase or rental of laptops, iPads and similar gadgets.

Nearly P2 billion is contained in the 2015 DOST budget for the same purpose.

However, the Senate, upon Sen. Ralph Recto’s initiative, realigned it to fund free public wi-fi hotspots.

The other DAP appropriations in the supplemental budget include P978 million for the rehabilitation of Light Rail Transit (LRT) Lines 1 and 2, P340 million for the Philippine Coconut Authority, and P250 million for the completion of the House legislative library and archives building, P5.2 million for the transfer of the Quezon City prosecutors’ and public attorneys’ offices.

Also DAP-related are P240 million for development assistance to Quezon province, P287 million for the National Housing Authority (NHA) for the relocation of squatters at its North Triangle property near Trinoma mall in Quezon City, P340 million for the Philippine Coconut Authority, P196 million for the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority, and P199 million for the purchase of 33 fire trucks for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Abad said President Aquino is precisely complying with the SC ruling on DAP in proposing a supplemental budget for projects to be funded from excess revenues.

“The SC says we should go back to Congress for appropriation cover,” he said. “That is why we are presenting the supplemental budget to Congress.” 

At least one item is linked to the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which the SC struck down as unconstitutional in November last year.

Some P1.8 billion is allocated to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for payment of obligations for PDAF projects completed before the November 2013 ruling.

The biggest amount in the supplemental budget is P8 billion for the NHA for the construction of permanent housing units for victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda.

Unused DAP funds

The Commission on Audit (COA) has found out that the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) has some P1 billion in unused funds from the DAP.

It has not yet returned the money to the Bureau of Treasury, the COA said in a 2013 report released yesterday.