DAP still existing, Ping says

MANILA, Philippines - Despite being declared unconstitutional, the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) continues to exist, according to former senator Panfilo Lacson.

He showed The STAR four memorandums from the Department of Health (DOH)’s Health Facility Development Bureau – all dated June 9, 2015 – allegedly showing how appropriations were transferred and realigned in violation of the Constitution.

Based on one of the memoranda, the Bataan General Hospital in Balanga, Bataan was allotted P17 million under the 2015 Capital Outlay Funding Allocation for DOH Hospitals for its infrastructure and equipment needs, Lacson said. However, the total amount released was increased to P30 million, he added.

In another memorandum, P360 million was released under the 2015 Capital Outlay Funding Allocation for DOH Hospitals for the infrastructure and equipment needs of the Northern Mindanao General Hospital in Cagayan de Oro City, Lacson said. However, the DOH and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) only released P50 million to the hospital, he added.

Under a third memorandum, the DOH and the DBM allocated P50 million for the infrastructure and equipment needs of the Cagayan Valley Medical Center in Tuguegarao City, despite the absence of allocations under the 2015 Capital Outlay Funding Allocation for DOH Hospitals, Lacson said.

The transfers of appropriations were in violation of the Constitution as they were ordered at the department level, he added.

“No law shall be passed authorizing any transfer of appropriations; however, the President, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the heads of constitutional commission may, by law, be authorized to augment any item in the general appropriations law for their respective offices from savings in other items of their respective appropriations,” states Article VI, Section 25 (5) of the Constitution. 

It is clear that the increases were not drawn from the DOH’s savings, Lacson said.

“This is technical malversation,” he said. “How can you declare savings in the middle of the year?” 

In July 2014, the SC ruled that a significant portion of the DAP – supposedly created to speed-up public spending – violates Section 25(5), Article VI of the    Constitution and the doctrine of separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches.