Justice Del Castillo: DAP issue may be remedied with legislation

By MARK MERUEÑAS, GMA NewsJuly 3, 2014 9:36pm

Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo concurred with the Supreme Court decision finding portions of the Disbursement Acceleration Program unconstitutional but said the tribunal should not make "broad and sweeping declaration" of unconstitutionality involving acts that were not actually proven in this case.

Del Castillo said it was improper to declare the DAP illegal without specifying the provisions of the implementing issuances, which transgressed the Constiution.

He also said Section 38 of the Administrative Code and the General Appropriations Act provisions on "savings" should be interpreted based on its "plain meaning" and not on interpretations that will lead to "absurd results or render them inoperative."

Del Castillo said that the issue created by using "savings" for the DAP can be best remedied not only through judicial but also legislative reforms.

In a decision announced Tuesday, the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional the following portions of the Aquino administration's DAP:

- the withdrawal of unobligated allotments from the implementing agencies, and the declaration of the withdrawn unobligated allotments and unreleased appropriations as savings prior to the end of the fiscal year and without complying with the statutory definition of savings contained in the General Appropriations Act;

- the cross-border transfers of the savings of the executive to augment the appropriations of other offices outside the executive; and

- the funding of projects, activities and programs that were not covered by any appropriation in the GAA.

GMA NEWS

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links:

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/368596/news/nation/justice-del-castillo-dap-issue-may-be-remedied-with-legislation

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