The Makabayan Bloc wants Section 67 of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) scrapped since it redefines the meaning of “savings,” violates the Supreme Court (SC) decision on the illegal Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) and robs Congress of the power of the purse.
In a letter Rep. Isidro T. Ungab of Davao City, chairman of the House appropriations committee, the seven-member bloc said it “expresses its opposition to the redefined ‘savings’ contained in Section 67 of the GAB through House Bill [HB] 4968, on the ground that it violates the Constitution as it tramples the power of Congress, undermines separation of powers and the system of checks and balance.”
The letter, dated October 1 was signed by Rep.Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna; Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan of Gabriela; Rep. Emmi de Jesus of Gabriela; Rep. Antonio Tinio of Act Teachers; Rep. Fernando Hicap of Anakpawis; Rep. Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna and Rep. Terry Ridon of Kabataan.
Section 67, in effect, is a device designed to circumvent, transgress and render meaningless the SC ruling against the unconstitutional acts and practices under President Aquino’s DAP, the bloc noted.
The expanded definition of savings under Section 67 of the 2015 proposed GAB, Makabayan maintained, is undemocratic and unconstitutional, since it has been crafted to provide President Aquino the cloak to misuse people’s money and mock the High Court verdict.
Its full text is as follows: “Section 67. Meaning of Savings and Augmentation—Savings refer to portions or balances of any programmed appropriations in this act, which have not been released or obligated as a result of any of the following:
- a) Discontinuance or abandonment of the program activity of project (PAP) for justifiable causes, at any time, during the validity of the appropriations;
- b) Noncommencement of the PAP for which the appropriations is authorized within the first semester of Fiscal Year (FY) 2015, unless the implementing agency shows that the PAP may still be undertaken or accomplished in FY 2015. For this purpose, noncommencement shall refer to the inability of the agency or its duly authorized procurement agent to obligate an allotment within the first semester of FY 2015, and;
- c) Decreased cost resulting from improved efficiency during the implementation of the project or after the completion by agencies of their P/A/Ps to deliver their targets and services approved in this Act.”
Makabayan noted that, compared to the 2014 General Appropriations Act (GAA) definition of savings, “which refers to any portion or balances of any programmed appropriation in this Act free from any obligation or encumbrance, the 2015 GAB, however, defines savings as portions or balances of any programmed appropriation in this act, which have not been released or obligated.”
Morever, the GAB deleted the word “final” on the discontinuance of projects, which may include temporary discontinuance and added the phrases “at any time” and “justifiable cause” to mean that the President has sole discretion to discontinue and abandon PAP and the funds appropriated for said PAP can now be considered savings and subject to realignment.
The bloc slammed this provision since it allows the President undue authority to use the national budget for anything he wants, with Congress at the sidelines and toothless to question what practically amounts to “fiscal dictatorship.”
Aquino may as well declare any appropriation or item in the budget as savings and, thus, stop any PAP, channeling the money to somewhere else.
“More so, compared to the 2014 GAA, the 2015 GAB added a new definition of savings, specifically the non-commencement of PAP, which means the inability of a government agency to obligate funds at the end of the first semester of the fiscal year. This grants President Aquino unconstitutional power to transform any appropriation or item in the GAA as ‘savings’ by withdrawing funds for PAP not yet obligated within the end of the first semester, even though the said PAP can still be obligated in the second semester,” Makabayan protested.
“Section 67 renders the power of the purse of Congress porous at the least and void at its worst. The President can declare as savings a whole item or appropriation [not just a portion of appropriation due to efficiency in project implementation or unfilled/vacant position in government] if the President decides to discontinue the PAP any time or the agency fails to obligate the PAP in the middle of the fiscal year,” it noted.
“Thus, Section 67 allows President Aquino to substitute his will over the Congress and the budget law. It yielded the power of the purse of Congress to the President, who can now arbitrarily decide to declare as savings any appropriation and item in the budget and transfer appropriation under the pretext of augmentation,” Makabayan told Ungab.
“It must be stressed that the Constitution prohibits transfer of appropriations precisely because the budget must be diligently prepared and deliberated and once approved must be faithfully executed. The Constitution only allows savings within the bounds of separation of powers and the system of checks and balances, and without violating the constitutional intent to safeguard the budget from the arbitrary discretion of the President or Congress to transfer appropriation at their whim,” the bloc stressed.
“Section 67 empowers the President to transform several and almost all the items in the budget as his huge pork barrel by declaring such items as savings because of its expanded and wrong definition,” it argued.
“The executive will just propose an overly huge budget annually with the intention of not commencing the projects approved by Congress in order to accumulate savings that can then be realigned to presidential projects for presidential allies, including items not found in the GAA. Instead of going directly to education, health and other social services, billions of public funds may become a source of patronage politics and graft and corruption under the redefined ‘savings.’ Worse, it takes away much needed funds from people’s needs and diverts these to ‘underspending’ agencies which cannot absorb these funds, defeating the reason for budgeting—to allocate scarce resources to where the people need these most,” Makabayan said.
“Without prejudice to our opposition to provisions in other sections, we therefore move that the entire Section 67 Meaning of Savings and Augmentation of HB 4968 be deleted and replaced with the entire provision under Section 66 [Meaning of Savings and Augmentation] of the 2014 GAA otherwise known as RA 10633, to wit: Sec. 67. Meaning of Savings and Augmentation. Savings refer to portions or balances of any programmed appropriation in this Act from any obligation or encumbrance which are: (i) still available after the completion or final discontinuance or abandonment of the work, activity or purpose for which the appropriation is authorized; (ii) from appropriation balances arising from unpaid compensation and related costs pertaining to vacant positions and leaves of absence without pay; and (iii) from appropriation balances realized from the implementation of measures resulting in improved systems and efficiencies and thus enabled agencies to meet and deliver the required or planned targets, programs and services approved in this Act at a lesser cost. Augmentation implies the existence in this Act of a program, activity, or project with an appropriation, which upon implementation or subsequent evaluation of needed resources, is determined to deficient. In no case shall a non-existent program, activity, or project, be funded by augmentation from savings or by the use of appropriations otherwise authorized in this Act.”