DAP deliberation dismays SC Justice

Echoes From

BY JOHNNY DAYANG

Our citizens are getting impatient over the deliberation on the legality of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

Even Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Arturo D. Brion has expressed his dismay when he noted that there exists some efforts to delay the deliberation on the legality of the DAP. He said “for some reason” there have been numerous efforts to postpone the ruling of the Supreme Court on the matter.

In his recent keynote speech during the 50th anniversary of the Federation of Provincial Press Clubs of the Philippine, Inc. (FPPCP) hosted by the Boracay Foundation, Inc. held at the Convention Hall of Casa Pilar, Boracay Island, Justice Brion said, “This time, someone filed a motion to defer the oral arguments.”

“What is going on? Maybe we should continue the oral arguments in 2017. Meanwhile, we should keep on dribbling it in NBA (National Basketball Association) parlance: “freeze the ball”.

Oh! What an irony. Justice Brion is raising a question of values which carries higher implications. Why should there still be an effort to delay the Supreme Court ruling on the DAP?

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) has admitted that it is not yet prepared to defend the DAP since collaborating lawyer, retired Justice Vicente Mendoza, seeks more time to review the documents to be submitted by the Department of Budget and Management for the oral arguments.

Malacañang has sought additional time to come up with a “coherent, verifi ed, and diligently prepared set of evidence for the Justices to consider. Government lawyers also ask the High Court to give them until March 18 instead of January 21 to submit the DBM documents regarding the sources of funds or savings and their usage under the DAP.

The DAP, according to the OSG, however, had been used to accelerate public spending, push economic growth, and promote prudent fiscal management.

Justice Brion lamented reports that despite the High Court’s recent ruling that the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) is illegal, there are still realignments going on with regards to the multimillion peso discretionary fund received by the lawmakers every year.

“In fact, it looks like a continuing novella,” he said.

The jurist is a man of merit and substance. He ranked first place in the Bar Examination with a grade of 91.65%.