Ex-Manila councilor asks SC to strike out lump sum funds in 2014 budget

The Supreme Court may have abolished the pork barrel system, but Congress and Malacañang seemed to have approved a national budget still filled with lump sum allocations. 

This was the accusation by former Manila councilor Greco Belgica as he filed a petition on Monday asking the Supreme Court to annul and set aside lump sum discretionary funds supposedly found in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2014.

 

"Despite the clear pronouncement in the Belgica case, Congress and the Executive refused to listen and have passed a GAA for 2014 filled with lump sums that are of the same character disallowed by the Belgica case," he said in his new petition.

 

Belgica enjoined the high court to uphold the "supremeacy" of the 1987 Constitution, even "before a single centavo of taxpayers' money is unconstitutionally utilized" in 2014.

 

Belgica said that despite the SC decision against the 2013 PDAF and other lump sum funds, the 2014 GAA still contained appropriations with "multiple or overbroad purposes."

 

"Instead of identifying the specific purpose for each specific appropriation, the 2014 GAA tacitly condoned the continued existence of lump-sum appropriations and simply passed on the responsibility of spelling out the details of the appropriation to the agency concerned," he said.

 

Among the funds that Belgica branded as "lump sum discretionary funds" are:

 

 

The lump sum appropriations from the Unprogrammed, e-Government, Contingent, and Local Government Support funds totalled P143,787,659,000.00 or 8.94 percent of the total 2014 national budget.

 

"The 2014 GAA is proof that the two political branches have decided to ignore the Supreme Court. It is a budget that is full of lump sums that let discretion run riot!" he said.

 

Among those named respondents were Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, the Department of Budget and Management, and Congress represented by Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte.

 

In its Nov. 19, 2013 decision, the high court, declared as unconstitutional the Priority Development Assistance Fund in the General Appropriations Act of 2013 and “all informal practices of similar import and effect.”

 

On Dec. 20, 2013, the GAA 2014 or Republic Act No. 10633 was signed into law that alloted P1,608,503,084,000.00 in total appropriations.

 

Belgica also claimed that for the 2014 GAA, 90 percent of the appropriations are considered "released," unlike in previous years when special allotment release orders (SAROs) were required.

 

The government is currently investigating a fund mess involving individuals, which Justice Secretary Leila de Lima earlier suspected to be insiders from DBM, who use fake SAROs to misuse government funds.

 

In his petition, Belgica said the lump sum appropriation in the 2014 national budget, to be constitutional, must state in detail the specific purpose for each amount of appropriation, which he said would enable President Benigno Aquino III to exercise his line-item veto power.

 

Citing the P1 billion contingency fund as an example, Belgica said: The sum of One Billion is pegged to the single, vague purpose of 'contingency.' In short, [the President] is forced to either make the blanket acceptance of whether it is valid that the nation prepare for 'contingencies' by funding it (without knowing what kind of contingencies the fund really refers to) or veto it entirely (thereby potentially incurring the blame for the nation not being prepared for a specific contingency)." — RSJ/KBK, GMA News