MANILA: President Aquino resumed his tirade against the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday even as he allayed fears of a constitutional crisis.
Aquino devoted much of his speech during the commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Apolinario Mabini, the brains of the Philippine revolution, to the legal battle being fought by Malacañang at the SC.
Reiterating arguments in a motion for reconsideration, Aquino stressed there was nothing wrong with his Disbursement Acceleration Programme, and said similar acts by the SC bolstered Malacañang’s belief that the DAP was in accordance with the law.
He stressed that Malacañang was not defying the tribunal even as he cited the SC’s own DAP-like cross-border fund transfers involving P1.865bn for projects of the executive branch.
“The truth was that we followed not just the main points of the decision, we also moved to consider all the opinions included in it,” the President said, referring to the SC ruling last July 1 declaring certain acts under DAP unconstitutional.
He said the filing of an appeal showed the Palace’s adherence to legal processes. With the SC decision, the executive branch had to suspend some projects for lack of funds and seek a supplemental budget from Congress, he said.
In July 2012, Aquino said the SC utilised its P1.865bn savings to augment funds for the construction of the Manila Hall of Justice. The truth was that a ground-breaking ceremony was held for that building in August of the same year, he said.
“The only problem is that the budget item for this project was under the Department of Justice. It is clear: Judiciary funds were allocated for a project that the executive was supposed to be doing,” Aquino said.
He said the high tribunal again sought cross-border transfer of another P100m for the construction of the Malabon Hall of Justice.
The two cases were cited by Malacañang in its motion for reconsideration of the unanimous SC ruling.
In declaring DAP unconstitutional, the SC said the executive cannot pool savings and enforce cross-border transfer of funds as this would usurp Congress’ power of the purse.
THE PHILIPPINE STAR
