Executive Justice Gabriel Ingles of the Court of Appeals-Cebu Station yesterday called on Filipinos to be fully informed about the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) before launching any campaign against or in support of the issue.
“We want to have an informed opinion on these issues based on facts,” Ingles told students, priests, seminarians, and non-governmental organizations during a forum held by the Cebu Citizens’ Involvement and Maturation in People’s Empowerment and Liberation (C-Cimpel), the citizens arm of the Cebu Archdiocese.
Ingles, a member of C-Cimpel, said his discussion was “an objective report” on issues involving DAP and the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) as pork barrel funds.
He told those who attended the forum at the Seminario Mayor de San Carlos that C-Cimpel will neither encourage nor stop organizations from launching a sign-up drive to amend the 1987 Constitution to scrap the pork barrel system in the national budget.
“We in C-Cimpel take a neutral stand on the issue. We don’t say ‘go for it’ or ‘don’t go for it.’ What we’re doing here is try to educate people. Whether we like it or not, we are taxpayers. And the issues at hand involve our taxes,” he said.
Participatory governance
“What we need is participatory governance, not patronage politics. Participatory governance has a great impact. And the manner by which people show their disgust for the pork barrel system is an example of participatory governance,” he added.
Ingles said the PDAF was declared “unconstitutional” by the Supreme Court because it violates the principle of separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government.
“That separation of powers between the three branches of government is violated when one branch interferes with other’s performance of its constitutionally assigned functions,” Ingles said.
In contrast, Ingles said the DAP was not declared unconstitutional by the High Court.
“The Supreme Court said DAP is just a program to accelerate the funding of government projects. But what was deemed illegal was the transfer of funds from the executive department to other branches of government and the realignment of fuinds for non-appropriated funds,” he said.
While the president is allowed to make realignment of funds, the High Court said it should be made within their respective offices—not in other branches of government.
Ingles refused to issue any statement regarding his personal stand on the DAP issue, saying there are unresolved issues pending before the High Court.
Changes
Marilu Chiongbian, executive director of C-Cimpel, said yesterday’s forum was aimed at educating people on the SC rulings on the DAP and PDAF.
“We want to empower people so they can act on issues which are useful in life. We are called to affect and effect changes for the good of our nation,” she said.
Chiongbian said its up to the people to take part in the move to collect up to six million signatures to press for the amendment of the 1987 Constitution and pass a law that does away with the pork barrel system in the national budget.
Anti-pork barrel advocates in Cebu launched a sign-up campaign for a referendum to abolish both PDAF and DAP last August.