Former Congressman to SC: Declare Proposed 2015 Budget Unconstitutional

A day after Senator Miriam Santiago’s speech, former Iloilo Congressman Augusto Syjuco Jr. asked the Supreme Court to declare the P2.606 trillion proposed 2015 budget unconstitutional for reportedly having funds already declared illegal by the high court.

Syjuco, in his 15-page petition filed on Tuesday, stated that the proposed national budget still contains lump sum funds resembling pork barrel and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), which were earlier declared illegal by the Supreme Court.

“Declare the creation, formulation, submission and approval of National Expenditure Program for Fiscal Year 2015 and 2015 General Appropriations Bill as unconstitutional and illegal,” read the former congressman’s prayer on his petition, as reported in GMA News Online.

The respondents of the petition were Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Senate President Franklin Drilon, and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

On Monday, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, during a privilege speech, expressed criticism against the proposed budget, which she claimed as “very lopsided”. The senator even linked it to the 2016 elections.

Santiago asked the Senate to reject the House-approved budget.

Prevent the Senate and the House of Representatives

In his petition, Syjuco also asked the Supreme Court to prevent the Senate and the House of Representatives from passing into law the proposed 2015 budget.

“Worthy to note in this proposed budget is the President’s special purpose funds, which critics call the President’s ‘pork barrel,’ amounts to P501.67 billion or 29 percent of the proposed appropriations for 2015,” Syjuco said.

P251.78 Billion ‘Savings’

Reports said Syjuco also questioned the P251.78 billion estimated savings for 2014, which he said is greater than the actual amount spent for the 116 projects under the DAP.

Syjuco said the huge saving targeted by the national government, the re-emergence of DAP or another DAP-like mechanism in the near future will certainly need to occur.

He also called the Budget Department’s Grassroots Participatory Budgeting, worth P20.9 billion, as “DAP Junior” and “DAP Clone,” GMA News Online reported.

The former congressman said the proposed 2015 budget should be declared as unconstitutional because it aims to redefine savings.

The Supreme Court’s ruling on DAP defined savings as unused funds at the end of the fiscal year.In its decision, the high tribunal has ruled that cross-border transfer of “savings” to augment the budget of different offices outside the Executive Branch of government was deemed illegal.

“The present administration is attempting to circumvent the ruling of the Supreme Court declaring the Disbursement Acceleration Program to be unconstitutional. Hence, they are giving the rotten DAP a new party dress for its camouflaged implementation,” the petition read.

“The Executive will be left with an unbridled discretion to convert any or all appropriations into saving as it may wish, Congress will just become a mere suggesting agency in the budgeting process thereby castrating the congressional “power of the purse,”” Syjuco said.

“In effect, it is actually Congress surrendering its power of the purse in favor of the Executive,” Syjuco added.

Source: GMA News Online