Indeed, it is too bad for the administration of Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III that their brainchild, the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), has been deemed unconstitutional by the Philippine Supreme Court. The DAP was conceived following a disastrous economic result in 2011 when the Philippine economy grew by only a little bit more than 3 percent after more than 7 percent growth rates in previous years.
Economic experts have attributed the growth rate crash of 2011 to then presidential newbie BS Aquino’s short-sighted and spiteful canning of many public projects initiated during the term of his predecessor former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The drying up of public funding created a ripple effect across both upstream and downstream economic activity that depressed commercial activity and flattened economic growth almost below annual population growth rates.
As the words in the DAP imply: disbursement acceleration. President BS Aquino was desperate to accelerate government spending after that economic disaster of his own doing. His foolish decisions to drastically cut spending in 2011 was a result of an appallingly uninformed take on the Philippines’s fiscal position when he first took office in 2010 when he foolishly failed to differentiate the concept of budget and actual expenditure. Evidence of this infantile grasp of fiscal management was his use of the nonsensical notion of a “depleted budget” in the hysterical first State of the Nation Address (SONA) he delivered to Congress on that year (translated in English from President BS Aquino’s Tagalog speech)…
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Our budget for 2010 is PhP1.54 trillion. Of this, only PhP100 billion – or 6.5% of the total budget – can be used for the remaining six months of the current year. Roughly 1% of the total budget is left for each of the remaining month.
Where did the funds go?
Hello, anybody in there?? Think McFly, THINK!
In accounting there are many concepts that describe outgoing funds, and just as many words to articulate these concepts: spent, disbursed, appropriated, accrued, allocated, provisioned, etc. Choosing the right word to use among those examples basically comes down to deciding whether funds referred to were set aside or moved to or from one account to another. A “budget” does not necessarily imply the existence of actual money. A budget is planned expenditure, and as such, the concept of a depleted budget does not make sense. We may exceed a budget, but to say it’s been “depleted” is to state an oxymoron; which is exactly the way P.Noy stated it in his SONA.
The amount of funds, say cash, in an account, say a bank account, on the other hand, represent something that could be depleted — both in principle, in practice, and in a real sense. Perhaps if the President made specific reference to an actual statement of account and made use of more precise accounting terms, then his 2010 SONA and the decisions he made following it would have made better sense. Following that presidential gaffe, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman did exactly that in a statement challenging P.Noy’s accounting acumen (or that of his handlers). Lagman makes use of precise words on the matter, in the way that a more informed person would:
Quoting the Bureau of Treasury, Lagman said the total cash disbursement or the national government expenditures as of June 30, 20010 amounted to close to P789 billion. This means that close the P752 billion pesos or 48 percent of the budget remains unspent, he said.
“The problem in the President’s accounting must have been caused by a lack of understanding of the difference between allocation as covered by a Special Allotment Release Order and actual disbursement to pay accrued or matured obligations,” Lagman said.
It is therefore important to reiterate again that there are only two issues underlying the whole “debate” over whether or not the DAP, as executed by the Second Aquino Administration, is good or bad, legal or criminal…
(1) Whether or not it was executed in good faith; and now in the context of what we discussed above,
(2) Whether its origins were an outcome of President BS Aquino’s appalling gross incompetence and lack of knowledge of national fiscal managment.
To the first, the singular principle at work is quite simple and can be addressed by answering one question:
Why did Senators have to be in the loop in the decision-making process surrounding the execution of the DAP?
To the latter, the question is a lot more confronting:
Why did Filipinos elect an incompetent President to lead them?
In short, the debate about the DAP need not be complicated. It is quite the simple subject. Unfortunately, in the hands of a society easily distracted by circuses, hopelessly dazzled by celebrities, and renowned for its abject inability to flex a critical mind, it remains hopelessly muddled.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
magaling talaga kayo mga kaalyado na pinoy ….ang yaman na ninyo….bakit mangmang parin kayo….
Yeah, Philippine democracy bears similarity with Plato’s definition of democracy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato%27s_five_regimes#Democracy
MAybe someone can make comparison of all the budgets of Pnoy from 2010-2014 and their status and correlate them with his DAP appropriations. Since it is presumed and always bragged about by Pnoy that he is not magnanakaw, a research on his kamaganak Inc. businesses and other interests should be done and examined if they have not profited from any government projects and/or presidential orders. A roster of their clan’s postition in governments would also help.
like i said in this case, it’s obvious, he is so afraid, because of the budget will go to the yellow ribbon committee which is the yellow propaganda, and this committee insist of their black nobility in this very poor country..like i said earlier, It seem like it’s a Legacy or Nobility, since the wife of Juan Luna’ The Cojuanco’s, their candidacy and political strategy lies on this kind of fraud and hypocrisy if you are familiar with the secret societies like the illuminati, they are the closest depict of it’s portrayal. their only difference is they are not bankers but corporation, as long as they have the blood of Cojuanco, this kind of folklore in politic will unrest in our system, combined now with the blood of a bright politician Ninoy Aquino, one of the most respectful politician in the Marcos Regime who is believed by many activist that was victim by a political nobility fraud of the Cojuanco’s, now Pnoy’s trying to restore the left Legacy of his mother and his ancestors, don’t you see? every time when a Cojuanco died comes a newly voted Cojuanco blood Presidents, check the history from Juan Luna’s wife up to the present, they use this method to caught the heart and sympathy of every Filipino resulting into a victorious candidacy only Pres: Ferdinand Marcos broke this method and won against them, even the snap election, Cory Cojuanco Aquino never won the said elections, but unfortunately the EDSA revolution which was the only 2% of the population and with the help of the US government (which was threatened to the credibility of Marcos) forced Marcos to step down, and to make sure for the protection of the throne, Cory threw Marcos away out of the country, which was so injustice with wrath of contemporary vengeance using the opportunity of Ninoy Aquino’s death. Plus the issue of Hacienda Luicita , the genocide within, Corruption beyond limit, plus the issues of today with the executive and the justice, the corruption, porky barrel, and nothing but a good to be true SONA of the President Pnoy.
PNOY’s is considered as unconstitutional by the Philippine Supreme Court it because the total cash disbursement or the national government expenditures as of June 30, 20010 amounted to close to P789 billion this means that close the P752 billion pesos or 48 percent of the budget remains unspent, Lagman said. I think there is a corruption in this case.
Raffy Gavilangoso
coorsinator,
http://ourhappyschool.com/ap-social-studies
Simply put, just because money is planned for something (as in a budget) doesn’t mean it’ll go there.
This sure need following up whether the money did go to the intended recipients. If it did, in part or in whole? But better question, why do things have to be paid in DAP when you should have dedicated funds for things like hospitals and public schools?
I know why a lot of you guys are angry because all of you are guilty, let’s just face the reality, you are happy that our president prioritize the showbizz in our country, you know guys it’s sad because there are a lot of people who needs attentions but why giving it to the people who has already a lot of blessings and attentions, why guys? Be a realist, look around you. Why not wake up. This is why a lot of us go abroad because there is hope in a foreign land, are you guys not ashamed of this? The most important is it’s all our fault, we don’t care about our country anymore, all of you guys. Please all you have to do is to wake up and look around you don’t get blinded by the media this is why Marcos ban them, because it may hide the truth and it is just a entertainment don’t get too attached by it, I really wish that a lot of us know what really happens around us and be kind to others who needs attentions. This is just sad guys…