BY SAMMY JULIAN, Manila News Bureau Chief<br />
and PRINCE GOLEZ, Manila Reporter
MANILA – The Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) funded two infrastructure projects in Iloilo, according to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
An hour before President Benigno Aquino III defended DAP in a national address yesterday, DBM disclosed that among the projects the controversial program funded were the Jalaur River Multipurpose Project – Phase II in Calinog, Iloilo and the housing for relocated informal settlers in Iloilo City.
For the Iloilo mega dam project, the Department of Agriculture and National Irrigation Administration were allocated P450 million, DBM said.
The Office of the President (OP) approved the funding on December 21, 2011.
The allocation would be used to develop an irrigation facility designed with provisions for a hydroelectric power plant and bulk water supply, the Budget department said.
The P450 million covered the Philippine government’s financial counterpart in the dam project mainly financed by an P8.95-billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of Korea, said DBM.
Meanwhile, the DAP allotment released to the National Housing Authority (NHA) for the construction of housing units for informal settlers who used to live along the Iloilo River was P100 million.
DBM said NHA as the implementing agency was tasked to build housing units for 40,000 informal settlers.
The OP approved funding request on October 12, 2011.
On June 27 during a visit to Iloilo City, President Aquino inspected the housing project in Barangay Lanit, Jaro district.
‘DAP IS NOT PDAF’
“Excuse me, iba ang DAP sa PDAF,” said President Aquino yesterday.
PDAF was the Priority Development Assistance Fund of lawmakers. It was abolished last year.
In PDAF, some legislators funneled government funds to fake non-government organizations; not in the case of DAP, the President said.
He insisted that DAP funds were spent wisely and not stolen.
It addressed the backlog in classrooms as well as helped implement the Sitio Electrification Program, Aquino stressed.
The President criticized the recent Supreme Court decision declaring DAP unconstitutional.
He said his administration will file a motion for reconsideration.
Aquino maintained DAP has legal basis – Administrative Code of 1987, specifically Book VI, Chapter 5, Section 36.
It gives the President the power to transfer savings to other projects, Aquino said.
He lamented that the main arguments of the Executive Branch supporting the controversial P140.8-billion DAP were vastly ignored by the Supreme Court.
President Aquino defended his government’s decision to realign savings to bankroll fast-moving projects endorsed by agencies and lawmakers under DAP.
According to Aquino, although it was not the intention of his administration, “fixing the budgeting process stalled the public sector’s contributions to the economy.”
Because of under-spending, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) went down, he said.
After carefully studying the situation, Aquino said his administration discovered that there were departments able to implement projects quickly and efficiently using the funds given them because they immediately streamlined their system.
Likewise, there were also agencies that were in the process of examining their system, “with an eye toward fixing flaws, to ensure that the people’s money wouldn’t be wasted.”
“But, naturally, time didn’t stop as all this was going on; there were agencies that understood that they wouldn’t be able to use funds appropriated for the year toward projects for the people,” said the President. “So the question then was: What do we do with the funds we haven’t yet touched?”
The budget must be spent within the year of allocation, he stressed.
If funds for certain programs are not spent, as they should have been, “clearly our countrymen did not gain what they should have,” he said.
“Without a doubt, any good leader would want to implement projects that benefit the public at the soonest possible time,” Aquino said. “I do not see any reason to delay benefits for our countrymen, especially because we have the wherewithal to alleviate their plight. It is clear that if you delay the benefits due them, you prolong the suffering of the Filipino people.”
President Aquino further clarified that DAP is not a project but an “efficient way of spending the budget; it follows the law and adheres to the mandate granted to the Executive Branch.”/PN
