MA. CAROLINA P.

Remedial law; Certiorari and prohibition. The

remedies of certiorari and prohibition are
necessarily broader in scope and reach, and
ARAULLO ET AL. v. the writ of certiorari or prohibition may
be issued to correct errors of
BENIGNO SIMEON jurisdiction committed not only by a tribunal,
corporation, board or officer

C. AQUINO III ET exercising judicial, quasi-judicial or ministerial

functions but also to set right, undo
and restrain any act of grave abuse of
AL., G.R. NO. discretion amounting to lack or excess
of jurisdiction by any branch or instrumentality
209287, July 1, 2014 of the Government, even if the latter does not
exercise judicial, quasi-judicial or ministerial
functions. Thus, petitions for certiorari and
In a Decision dated July 1, 2014, the Supreme prohibition are appropriate remedies to raise
Court partially granted the consolidated constitutional issues and to review and/or
petitions for certiorari and prohibition and prohibit or nullify the acts of legislative and
declared the following acts and practices executive officials.
under the Disbursement Acceleration Program
(DAP), National Budget Circular No. 541 and Remedial law; Locus standi. Citing De Castro
related executive issuances unconstitutional v. Judicial and Bar Council, the Supreme
for violating Section 25(5), Article VI of the Court ruled that the assertion of a public right
1987 Constitution and the doctrine of as a predicate for challenging a supposedly
separation of powers, namely: illegal or unconstitutional executive
or legislative action rests on the theory that
(a) The withdrawal of unobligated allotments the petitioner represents the public in general.
from the implementing agencies, and the Although such petitioner may not be as
declaration of the withdrawn unobligated adversely affected by the action complained
allotments and unreleased appropriations as against as are others, it is enough that
savings prior to the end of the fiscal year and he sufficiently demonstrates in his petition that
without complying with the statutory definition he is entitled to protection or relief from the
of savings contained in the General Court in the vindication of a public right. The
Appropriations Acts; Court likewise cited Agan, Jr. v.
Philippine International Air Terminals Co., Inc.,
(b) The cross-border transfers of the savings to explain that [s]tanding is a peculiar
of the Executive to augment the concept in constitutional law because in
appropriations of other offices outside the some cases, suits are not brought by
Executive; and parties who have been personally injured
by the operation of a law or any
(c) The funding of projects, activities and other government act but by concerned
programs that were not covered by any citizens, taxpayers or voters who actually sue
appropriation in the General Appropriations in the public interest.
Acts.
Transcendental importance as a ground to
The Court further declared void the use of waive locus standi. Each of the petitioners
unprogrammed funds despite the absence of has established sufficient interest in the
a certification by the National Treasurer that outcome of the controversy as to confer locus
the revenue collections exceeded the revenue standi on each of them. In addition,
targets for non-compliance with the conditions considering that the issues center on the
provided in the relevant General extent of the power of the Chief Executive to
Appropriations Acts (GAAs). disburse and allocate public funds,
whether appropriated by Congress or not,
these cases pose issues that are identification of the PAPs to be funded
of transcendental importance to the entire under the DAP did not involve appropriation
Nation, the petitioners included. As such, the in the strict sense because the money had
determination of such important issues call for been already set apart from the public
the Courts exercise of its broad and wise treasury by Congress through the GAAs. In
discretion to waive the requirement and so such actions, the Executive did not usurp the
remove the impediment to its addressing and power vested in Congress under Section
resolving the serious constitutional questions 29(1), Article VI of the Constitution [that no
raised. money shall be paid out of the
Treasury except in pursuance of
Administrative law; Budget process; an appropriation made by law].
Implementation and funding of the
Disbursement Allocation Program (DAP). Four Requisites of a valid transfer of appropriated
phases comprise the Philippine budget funds under Section 25(5), Article VI. The
process, specifically: (1) Budget Preparation; transfer of appropriated funds, to be valid
(2) Budget Legislation; (3) Budget Execution; under Section 25(5), [Article VI of the
and (4) Accountability. Constitution], must be made upon a
concurrence of the following
The DAP was to be implemented and funded requisites, namely: (1) There is a law
(1) by declaring savings coming from the authorizing the President, the President of the
various departments and agencies derived Senate, the Speaker of the House of
from pooling unobligated allotments and Representatives, the Chief Justice of the
withdrawing unreleased appropriations; (2) Supreme Court, and the heads of the
releasing unprogrammed funds; and (3) Constitutional Commissions to transfer funds
applying the savings and within their respective offices; (2) The funds to
unprogrammed funds to augment existing be transferred are savings generated from
[program, activity or project] or to support the appropriations for their respective offices;
other priority PAPs. and (3) The purpose of the transfer is to
augment an item in the general appropriations
Administrative law; Nature of the DAP. The law for their respective offices.
DAP was a government policy or strategy
designed to stimulate the economy through It is then indubitable that the power to
accelerated spending. In the context of the augment was to be used only when the
DAPs adoption and implementation being a purpose for which the funds had been
function pertaining to the Executive as the allocated were already satisfied, or the need
main actor during the Budget Execution for such funds had ceased to exist, for only
Stage under its constitutional mandate to then could savings be properly realized.
faithfully execute the laws, including the This interpretation prevents the Executive
GAAs, Congress did not need to legislate to from unduly transgressing Congress power of
adopt or to implement the DAP. the purse.

Constitutional law; The DAP is not an Savings, defined. The definition of savings
appropriation measure and does not under the 2011, 2012 and 2013 GAAs refer to
contravene Section 29(1), Article VI. The portions or balances of any
President, in keeping with his duty to programmed appropriation in this Act free
faithfully execute the laws, had sufficient from any obligation or encumbrance
discretion during the execution of the which are: (i) still available after the
budget to adapt the budget to changes in the completion or final discontinuance
countrys economic situation. He could adopt or abandonment of the work, activity or
a plan like the DAP for the purpose. He could purpose for which the appropriation is
pool the savings and identify the PAPs to be authorized; (ii) from appropriations balances
funded under the DAP. The pooling of arising from unpaid compensation and related
savings pursuant to the DAP, and the costs pertaining to vacant positions and
leaves of absence without pay; and (iii) allowed the President to substitute his own will
from appropriations balances realized from for that of Congress. He was still required to
the implementation of measures resulting in remain faithful to the provisions of the GAAs,
improved systems and efficiencies and given that his power to spend pursuant to the
thus enabled agencies to meet and deliver the GAAs was but a delegation to him from
required or planned targets. Congress. Verily, the power to spend the
public wealth resided in Congress, not in the
The Court agreed with petitioners that Executive. Moreover, leaving the spending
respondents were forcing the generation power of the Executive unrestricted would
of savings in order to have a larger fund threaten to undo the principle of separation of
available for discretionary spending. powers.
Respondents, by withdrawing unobligated
allotments in the middle of the fiscal year, in Cross-border transfers or augmentations are
effect deprived funding for PAPs with existing prohibited. By providing that the President, the
appropriations under the GAAs. President of the Senate, the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of
The mandate of Section 28, Chapter IV, Book the Supreme Court, and the Heads of the
VI of the Administrative Code is to revert to Constitutional Commissions may be
the General Fund balances of appropriations authorized to augment any item in the GAA
that remained unexpended at the end of the for their respective offices, Section 25(5) has
fiscal year. The Executive could not delineated borders between their offices, such
circumvent this provision by that funds appropriated for one office are
declaring unreleased appropriations and prohibited from crossing over to another office
unobligated allotments as savings prior to even in the guise of augmentation of a
the end of the fiscal year. deficient item or items. Thus, we call such
transfers of funds cross-border transfers or
Augmentation is valid only when funding is cross-border augmentations.
deficient. The GAAs for 2011, 2012 and 2013
set as a condition for augmentation that the Regardless of the variant characterizations of
appropriation for the PAP item to be the cross-border transfers of funds, the plain
augmented must be deficient, to wit: x x x text of Section 25(5) disallowing cross-border
Augmentation implies the existence in this Act transfers was disobeyed. Cross-border
of a program, activity, or project with an transfers, whether as augmentation, or as aid,
appropriation, which upon implementation, are prohibited under Section 25(5).
or subsequent evaluation of needed
resources, is determined to be deficient. In no No violation of equal
case shall a non-existent program, activity, or protection. Petitioners claim that the Executive
project, be funded by augmentation from discriminated against some legislators on the
savings or by the use of ground alone of their receiving less than the
appropriations otherwise authorized in this others could not of itself warrant a finding of
Act. contravention of the Equal Protection Clause.
The denial of equal protection of any law
The President cannot substitute his own will should be an issue to be raised only by parties
for that of Congress. The Court held that the who supposedly suffer it, and, in these cases,
savings pooled under the DAP were such parties would be the few legislators
allocated to PAPs that were not covered by claimed to have been discriminated against in
any appropriations in the pertinent the releases of funds under the DAP. The
GAAs. Although the [Office of the Solicitor reason for the requirement is that only such
General] rightly contends that the Executive affected legislators could properly and fully
was authorized to spend in line with its bring to the fore when and how the denial of
mandate to faithfully execute the laws equal protection occurred, and explain why
(which included the GAAs), such authority did there was a denial in their situation. The
not translate to unfettered discretion that requirement was not met here.
Operative fact doctrine. The doctrine of
operative fact recognizes the existence of the
In its wake, as seen in the news,
law or executive act prior to the determination critics have gladly seized on DAPs
of its unconstitutionality as an operative fact
that produced consequences that cannot partial unconstitutionality to raise
always be erased, ignored or disregarded. In scenarios of impeachment against
short, it nullifies the void law or executive act
but sustains its effects. It provides an the President, or raised calls for the
exception to the general rule that a void or
unconstitutional law produces no effect. But its
resignation of Budget Secretary
use must be subjected to great scrutiny and Florencio Butch Abad.
circumspection, and it cannot be invoked to
validate an unconstitutional law or executive
act, but is resorted to only as a matter of These criticisms ride on the popular
equity and fair play. It applies only to cases
where extraordinary circumstances exist, and anger against pork barrel freely-
only when the extraordinary circumstances disbursed lump sum allocations such
have met the stringent conditions that will
permit its application. as the Priority Development
Assistance Fund (PDAF) declared
The operative fact doctrine applies to the
implementation of the DAP. To declare the unconstitutional in Belgica v.
implementation of the DAP unconstitutional
without recognizing that its prior
Executive Secretary this time
implementation constituted an operative fact aimed at Malacaang rather than
that produced consequences in the real as
well as juristic worlds of the Government and Congress.
the Nation is to be impractical and unfair.
Unless the doctrine is held to apply, the
Executive as the disburser and the offices We will not join the bandwagon. We
under it and elsewhere as the recipients could do not support the impeachment of
be required to undo everything that they had
implemented in good faith under the the president and we leave it up to
DAP. That scenario would be enormously
burdensome for the Government. Equity
Secretary Abad, an exemplary public
alleviates such burden. official by any standard, to discern
whether his resignation will benefit
the country. We trust he will make
With the decision in the consolidated the right decision.
case of Araullo v. Aquino III, the
Supreme Court had found the In this article, we think beyond this
Disbursement Acceleration Program politics of outrage, which could just
(DAP) of the administration of be a moment or are warnings of
President Benigno S. Aquino major upheavals ahead, and reflect
partially constitutional, partially on the longer term political and
unconstitutional. governance implications of the DAP
decision.
A judicial challenge to an act of the allocations (cross-border
executive (or the legislative, for that augmentation) by virtue of the
matter), is ultimately an act that latters unconstitutionality, or at the
seeks to limit an instance of the very least, because such itself
exercise of that governmental power violates Art. VI Sec. 25 (5).
when done right, in an effort to curb
abuse and protect what is right. In Savings
parsing DAP, in declaring some of
Aquinos actions constitutional, and There, too, was a problem in
some unconstitutional, the Supreme addressing the definition of actual
Court had essentially left the savings that is the source of
Presidents prerogative to augment augmentations. To quote from
proper budget expenditures from the ponencia, actual savings, strictly
proper budget savings intact, but speaking, is the money left over from
clearly defined what augmentation GAA-authorized items which are
is not. authorized was completed, finally
discontinued, or abandoned; or
What augmentation is, according to because the policy targets were
the ponencia, and defined in Art. VI, reached at lower cost due to
Sec. 25 (5) of the 1987 Constitution, increased efficiencies; or because of
and authorized within each years vacant government positions or
General Appropriations Act (GAA), is leaves-of-absence without
the use of clearly-identified savings pay. Araullo held that it did not
in the expenditures of government contemplate the use of money that
departments and offices to augment had yet to be used: the controversial
clearly-identified, actual deficiencies unobligated allotments of slow-
within those respective government moving government projects; or the
departments and offices. What unprogrammed funds, which are
augmentation is not, however, is to standby appropriations authorized in
allocate what was not authorized as the GAA, which are available only
an expenditure in the GAA. It is not a under specific circumstances and
transfer of executive department conditions. One of DAPs errors, but
savings to legislative lump sum a critical one, was that it considered
funds otherwise not considered by Enriquez earlier ruled pork barrel as
law as actual savings, as actual constitutional, allowing the practice to
savings, making them available for continue with judicial leave. For all
disbursement by the President. the diatribes raised against Aquino in
the wake of the PDAF scandal, the
As with Belgica, Araullo exposes the truth is that, as with his
underbelly of Philippine money predecessors, he had inherited prior
politics: the roles and powers over practices of Philippine government
the budget-crossing borders. With that have become so ingrained in
PDAF, it was the legislature getting political culture.
an all-but-assured slice of the pie for
legislators to spend on their own Malice
programs as they see fit; a
usurpation of executive roles. With Other than outright malice (which has
the unconstitutional portions of DAP, to be proven first!), nothing else but
it was the Chief Executive allocating the honest belief that pork is right (if
savings and unprogrammed funds to used right) would have motivated
projects or programs independent of congressmen who cried foul and
authorized GAA allocations threats of impeachment over Belgica.
(including DAP handovers to And I do believe (despite others that
legislators); a usurpation of claim otherwise) that what motivated
legislative functions. It would be the administration on the exercise of
crude but otherwise uncomfortably and its defensiveness with DAP was
close to the mark to describe a not the malice they denounce, but a
DAPed president as a mini- similar honest belief that the
Congress, and a PDAFed legislator Executive could reallocate unused
as a mini-president. money as it did, for the good of the
nation.
Yet this confluence and contradiction
of roles has likely subsisted in the Ironically, it was Aquinos own high
foundations of Philippine politics-in- standards of daang matuwid that
practice certainly allowed the Court to resolve the DAP
since PHILCONSA v. question as it did or for the
question to explode into public
consciousness as it did. The records or Revilla; or Aquino or Abad that
of the case will reflect the packages some feel are just attempts to deflect
of memoranda and orders in relation or delay the inevitable condemnation.
to DAP money movements: amply And we feel that anger in critical op-
documented and volunteered upon eds, or the vitriol in the comment
summons. boards of news outfits and social
media.
Admittedly, and as will be elaborated
later, an audit will still be necessary Unconstitutional but not criminal
to uncover the full story of DAP (and
the Court did note that documents Yet here we must demur. Legally and
relating to DAPs conceptualization morally, to condemn requires proper
were scarce), but the evidence evidence culpable violation in case
package offered in Court was of impeachment, or the commission
enough for the Justices to parse how of the elements of the crime charged,
the President exercised his powers, in case of criminal prosecution. As
the bone of contention in Araullo. Professor Randy David observed in
his Inquirer column, reflecting on his
If anything, such level of arrest in the wake of President
documentary detail, readily Arroyos Proclamation 1017, a policy
presented upon order, would be being unconstitutional does not
evidence of good faith on the part of always mean the policy-maker being
the administration. Which is where criminal or culpable for that matter.
our discussion now turns to the
question of impeachment against Justice Marvic Leonen pointed it out
Aquino, or calls for Abad to resign. clearly in his separate opinion: to
Ever since last year, there has been rule that a declaration of
an undercurrent of vindictiveness in unconstitutionality per se is the basis
the campaign against pork. for determining liability is a
Understandable, given the scale of dangerous proposition. It is not
the scandal, and the defenses proper that there are suggestions of
offered by all the parties under attack administrative or criminal liability
whether Senators Enrile, Estrada, even before the proper charges are
raised, investigated, and filed.
If we keep insisting that government that Araulloreestablishes the proper
officials should always be held liable, budget-handling borders of the
especially criminally liable, for acts separated powers of government.
subsequently declared to be
unconstitutional by the Court, then all Governance
government would be paralyzed by
terror, unable to exercise such This leads us to our next set of
powers even granted to them by the implications: governance. As pork
Constitution, for fear of the next had become ingrained in national
prosecution (whether truly aggrieved politics, it had also wormed its way
or politically motivated) thrown in into governance, into the
their direction. implementation of policy and the
spending of money on policy. PDAF
The Supreme Court may be the final again demonstrates how dependent
arbiter of constitutionality, but by public services, even those provided
virtue of separation of powers, the by NGOs, were on the largesse of
Executive and Legislature get first legislators, such that the system
crack at interpretation of the could be manipulated with ghost
constitutionality of their acts NGOs. It feeds into the patronage
(contemporaneous construction). politics of Philippine governance: that
Such interpretation is still open to public services and the benefits
challenge by any aggrieved party, every citizen receives, by law, from
but a principle of law is that government is held hostage by the
constitutionality is generally political elite, who can then extract
presumed; its unconstitutionality staying power and the occasional
must be proved. Until proven graft from his constituency and
otherwise, the law grants the budgetary allocation.
President or Congress the benefit of
the doubt. It should be noted that the same
Secretary Abad critics are now wont
Absent further evidence on malicious to hang for DAP, is the same
or culpable acts of the Secretary Abad who declared, in his
Administration, it is enough Metrobank Professorial Chair lecture
last year at the Ateneo School of
Government, that the budget could congressionally-branded
be a tool for citizen empowerment scholarships and free clinics; the
(particularly though inclusive basketball courts and multi-purpose
budgeting reforms introduced under halls, that seem to be the low-
his watch, such as bottom-up hanging fruit of GAA allocations to
budgeting). public works.

Weeding governance of bad Padrino system

budgetary habits strengthens good
and responsive governance. There will likely be a painful adjusting
Subjecting government allocations period as constituents suddenly find
and allotments to stricter scrutiny and themselves without apadrino,
controls, thanks to the restoration of learning instead political habits of
the borders, will ultimately help in interest aggregation, interfacing with
restoring fiscal credibility to representatives and bureaucrats, of
Philippine governance: the leveraging policy planning and
legislature authorizes where the execution to their benefit. As our
money goes, the executive releases colleagues have found in the G-
the money to such expenditures, with Watch project, this learning process
the citizenry participating at the is more needed and more painful
budget planning, deliberation, and outside the cities, in the bailiwicks of
execution stages, either through their trapo dynasties, and among a
elected representatives or as citizen population so used to binyag-kasal-
organizations. libing interaction with their political
representatives.
Still, good governance has up to 27
years to catch up on a history of bad Padrinos and trapo dynasties may
budgetary habits, since the seem more the terrain of Congress,
restoration of traditional political but Abads concept of budget-as-
dynamics following the fall of the empowering is sorely needed in
Marcos regime. In the short term, Malacaang as well. Keynesian
government and citizenry both will economics does hold that
have to break some of those habits: government spending does have a
stimulus effect on the economy
Justice Leonens concurrence highly embarrassing for the Office of
to Araullo noted this; exemplified by the President at the least. At most, it
the World Bank report cited in the makes the Office of the President as
majority that found DAP to have much a padrino of his own
contributed 1.3% to the 2011 gross constituency (e.g., Congress) as a
domestic product growth. local political lord.

Yet a dependence on DAP as a Mitigating such dangers requires

stimulus tool may yet breed robust
dependence on executive accountability. Araullo complements
augmentations in the name of Belgica by delineating, once and for
economic growth. all, the roles and functions of the
branches of government in the
In the earlier-referred Metrobank budgetary process. It is easier to
lecture, Abad had rightly described color within the lines, after all, when
the national budget as an arena of the lines themselves are clear.
struggle among competing interests
but heretofore that struggle and Accountability
those interests were assumed to be
in congressional deliberation, not Judicial decisions alone, however,
executive execution. This is the will not color between the lines, so to
danger implied in Araullos finding speak. Financial accountability is the
that augmentations made outside of reserve of the system of checks and
GAA line items were unconstitutional, balances among the branches of
as were cross-border releases to government
Congress. (which Araulloand Belgica thankfully
clarify), and of the Commission of
The accusation that DAP may have Audit, its raison detre.
been used to secure the votes
needed for Chief Justice Renato It also ought to be the resolve of
Coronas impeachment, or the RH citizens to watch over the effective
Bills passage, stings the most in this and equitable expenditure of public
regard. True or untrue (or simply very funds through project monitoring, and
uncomfortable timing), it has become working with government a cause
our school, the Ateneo School of on threat (or at least threat alone), a
Government, has championed climate of fear of the hangmans
through the social accountability noose, will not be sustainable. Where
framework. liabilities can be established, as
Justice Leonen observed, there the
However, there is something proper cases may be filed (and if the
Malacaang ought to do now, in the travails of the PDAF prosecution
wake of Araullo. So far, what has team be instructive, then those
been made public by court action liabilities must be thoroughly
were the DAP-related memos and established).
subsequent documentation of the
Office of the President. As noted in But as with the Benhur Luy
the ponencia, other documents revelations, Araullo can help guide
remain to be revealed, such as the everyones hand in establishing a
decision-making process behind better structure of public finance
DAPs creation, and of course the management and accountability.
proverbial paper trail of the money, Fully threshing out this promise is
especially once it left executive best left to a future article, but suffice
hands. This goes double for the to say
releases to legislators, in case it can that Araullo and Belgica mitigate, if
help clarify the paper trail in the not eliminate, the risks opened up by
PDAF cases on file now and later, the earlier PHILCONSA ruling.
and to clarify which personalities or
programs may benefit from the The administrations habit of
doctrine of operative fact under a documentation, too, is a hopeful
good-faith defense (as Justice portent of practices to come, and a
Antonio Carpio cautions in his willingness of Aquino officials to
separate opinion). further disclose the extents and
consequences of DAP in the name of
We would like to repeat, however, accountability and better governance
that this exercise in accountability design. (Besides, a working
must not turn into an exercise of Keynesian stimulus is a good
vindictiveness. Accountability based achievement, especially for an
administration earlier criticized for So where does the country go from
dragging its feet on post-Arroyo here? How does the Philippine polity
government spending.) go cold turkey, bear the withdrawal
symptoms from weaning itself from a
Admit mistakes dependence on pork barrel? Money,
legitimately or illegitimately
And to help stimulate both appropriated and disbursed, had
accountability and discussions for been used in times past to grease
governance redesign, here we must the wheels of legislation and
submit unsolicited, but hopefully execution.
useful, advice for the administration,
to tone down the self-righteous This is what Congress crowed about
defensiveness. in the wake of Belgica, to take away
the proverbial prop upon which their
Araullo, as well as Aquinos Houses stand. But the very picture of
forthcoming submission of the political horse-trading did not
requested evidences, already point envision the exchange of money,
to good faith exercised in the especially the peoples money, but
execution of DAP. The presidential the aggregation and trading of
prerogative for constitutional political, economic, and social
augmentation has not been stripped. interests deliberated openly, for
It is possible to look at the Supreme which the money will then be
Court decision as a starting point for disbursed, and the reward is
dialogue and reform. As with continued political (and practical)
persons, it helps for governments to relevance to their constituencies (as
admit their mistakes as a step well as their respective salaries).
towards reconciliation and recovery.
It also helps that the populace be Idealistic, we know even America
ready to dialogue with its mistaken, struggles with corrupt money politics
but cooperative, government but and pork, though manifested in
we have already stressed this point different forms (e.g., earmarks).
in previous paragraphs.
Yet it is high time we learned the
habits of modern, accountable
 applied it in a decision, this would surely cause
politics. confusion and instability in judicial processes and
Consider Araullo and Belgica a court decisions. Under such a system, a final
court determination of a case based on a judicial
badly-needed intervention, a interpretation of the law of the Constitution may
judicially-mandated stint in rehab that be undermined or even annulled by a subsequent
and different interpretation of the law or of the
may finally give Philippine politics a Constitution by the Legislative department. That
chance to detoxify, shed some bad would be neither wise nor desirable, besides
being clearly violative of the fundamental,
money habits, and come clean into principles of our constitutional system of
government, particularly those governing the
the 21st century. separation of powers.

As with any intervention, it would

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW; STRICT
help for the intervenors to approach CONSTRUCTION ON THE ACCUMULATION
their addict-subject with detachment AND UTILIZATION OF SAVINGS. The decision
of the Court has underscored that the exercise of
and compassion; with sensitivity as the power to augment shall be strictly construed
by virtue of its being an exception to the general
well as resolve. Rappler.com
rule that the funding of PAPs shall be limited to
the amount fixed by Congress for the purpose.
Necessarily, savings, their utilization and their
Follow Dean Tony La Via on management will also be strictly construed
Facebook and on Twitter against expanding the scope of the power to
augment. Such a strict interpretation is essential
via @tonylavs. Christian Laluna is a in order to keep the Executive and other budget
first year law student at the Ateneo implementors within the limits of their
prerogatives during budget execution, and to
Law School. He works as a part-time prevent them from unduly transgressing
writer and communications specialist Congress power of the purse. Hence, regardless
of the perceived beneficial purposes of the DAP,
at the Ateneo School of Government. and regardless of whether the DAP is viewed as
an effective tool of stimulating the national
economy, the acts and practices under the DAP
Araullo vs. Aquino III, and the relevant provisions of NBC No. 541 cited
G.R. No. 209287, in the Decision should remain illegal and
unconstitutional as long as the funds used to
February 3, 2015 finance the projects mentioned therein are
POLITICAL LAW; POWER OF THE SUPREME sourced from savings that deviated from the
COURT; JUDICIAL REVIEW. We have already relevant provisions of the GAA, as well as the
said that the Legislature under our form of limitation on the power to augment under Section
government is assigned the task and the power to 25(5), Article VI of the Constitution. In a society
make and enact laws, but not to interpret them. governed by laws, even the best intentions must
This is more true with regard to the interpretation come within the parameters defined and set by
of the basic law, the Constitution, which is not the Constitution and the law. Laudable purposes
within the sphere of the Legislative department. must be carried out through legal methods.
If the Legislature may declare what a law means,
or what a specific portion of the Constitution
means, especially after the courts have in actual ADMINISTRATIVE LAW; POWER TO
case ascertain its meaning by interpretation and AUGMENT; CANNOT BE USED TO FUND
NON-EXISTENT PROVISION IN THE GAA.
Further, in Nazareth v. Villar, we clarified that
there must be an existing item, project or activity,
purpose or object of expenditure with an
appropriation to which savings may be
transferred for the purpose of augmentation.
Accordingly, so long as there is an item in the
GAA for which Congress had set aside a specified
amount of public fund, savings may be
transferred thereto for augmentation purposes.
This interpretation is consistent not only with the
Constitution and the GAAs, but also with the
degree of flexibility allowed to the Executive
during budget execution in responding to
unforeseeable contingencies.