AS the nation awaits the release of the highly-anticipated Supreme Court (SC) ruling on the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) today, Kabataan Partylist Rep. Terry Ridon revealed that youth groups under Kabataan Partylist and Youth ACT Now have already begun drafting legal charges against President Benigno Aquino III and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad for “inventing and abusing DAP.”
“There is little doubt that the SC will declare DAP as unconstitutional today,” Ridon remarked, saying that the Executive Department has bypassed so many laws and abused its power gravely in implementing the controversial program.
Apart from being one of the petitioners in the SC against the DAP, Ridon has also filed House Resolution 359 last October which urges the House Committee on Appropriation and the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability to investigate the DAP.
“In this light, we have already begun exploring the next possible steps to hold Aquino and Abad accountable for the DAP fiasco. This includes the filing of an impeachment complaint against Aquino and malversation raps against Abad,” Ridon said.
The lawmaker forecasted three possible scenarios after the release of the decision.
“The first and the bleakest possibility, of course, is that the SC declares DAP as constitutional. But this scenario is also unlikely, as the case against DAP is very strong.”
“The second possibility is for the SC to declare DAP unconstitutional with a retroactive effect. This scenario would boost raps against Aquino and Abad exponentially.”
“The third and most probable scenario is for the SC to declare DAP unconstitutional but prospective in effect, just as what it did with the PDAF. This can be seen as a compromise between the executive and the judiciary, so as to ensure that Aquino and Abad would be let off from possible prosecution.”
The DAP came under fire last year after several senators revealed that the said funds were used as “incentives” for legislators who supported the impeachment of former Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012.
“The DAP is unconstitutional as it violates Article VI Section 25(5) of the 1987 Constitution which states, ‘No law shall be passed authorizing any transfer of appropriations; however, the President, . . . may, by law, be authorized to augment any item in the general appropriations law for their respective offices from savings in other items of their respective appropriations,’” Ridon explained.
Impeachment, malversation raps under way
“Regardless of the outcome of the SC decision, we will push through with the impeachment raps against Aquino and malversation charges against Abad. They need to be held accountable for abusing public funds,” Ridon said.
The youth solon said that if the SC declares DAP as unconstitutional, it would be a “solid ground” for culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, both of which are impeachable offenses.
Meanwhile, Abad can be charged with malversation of public funds, at “the bare minimum,” Ridon said.
Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code states that malversation is committed when a “public officer who, by reason of the duties of his office, is accountable for public funds or property, shall appropriate the same, or shall take or misappropriate shall consent, or through abandonment or negligence, shall permit any other person to take such public funds or property, wholly or partially, or shall otherwise be guilty of the misappropriation or malversation of such funds or property.” The maximum penalty for the said crime is life imprisonment.
“We have repeatedly said in the past that discretionary funds that are under the sole control of the President are highly vulnerable to corruption and misuse. We thus urge the high court to declare it as unconstitutional and make the Executive Department accountable for implementing an illegal scheme that only served to further the administration’s political motives and perpetuate political patronage in government,” Ridon ended.
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