Budget chief Abad: No DAP funds given to senators during Corona trial

(Updated 5:25 p.m.) Budget Secretary Butch Abad denied on Thursday that government funds from the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) were released to senators during the impeachment trial against former Chief Justice Renato Corona.

 

"Not true. Absolutely no [funds] were released to senators [during that time]," Abad told GMA News Online.

 

Abad was reacting to a Philippine Daily Inquirer report published Thursday saying the DBM released a total of P370 million from the DAP to Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Bong Revilla Jr. and Vicente Sotto III while the Corona trial was ongoing.

 

The funds reportedly ended up in one of the non-government organizations of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

 

But Abad said even the PDI admitted that the Special Allotment Release Orders (SARO) were released in October 2011, which was eight months before the May 2012 trial. 

 

"What happened subsequently were payments of obligations for goods and services delivered/provided to implementing agencies," he said.

 

He added that "the release of SAROs, including their timing, had nothing to do with the impeachment process."

Asked about the matter, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda on Thursday said his memory is "hazy" and that he will have to go through the documents again.
 

The DAP, the constitutionality of which is being questioned before the Supreme Court, became an issue after Estrada bared that he and other senators who voted to convict Corona in May 2012 received P50 million each in additional funds months after the impeachment trial.

 

Abad had admitted that the funds came from the DAP, but maintained these were not bribes or incentives for senators. The Palace had said the DAP fund is a stimulus package initially meant to address sluggish government spending in 2011.

"The DAP has always been meant to stimulate the economy," Lacierda reiterated during a press conference on Thursday. He added that the DAP has already been "terminated."
 

The budget chief already said in October that the department would no longer entertain requests from legislators.

 

Abad said 6 percent of the 2011 DAP disbursements and 14 percent of the 2012 releases went to legislators. But the Palace said the money went directly to the department implementing the project nominated by the lawmaker.

 

Last January, the DBM junked the SARO system following reports of fake versions of the documents being issued to implementing agencies. — RSJ, GMA News