Workers to Noy: Account for P178 B

MANILA, Philippines – Government employees yesterday launched a campaign pressing President Aquino to account for the P178.7-billion Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), which they claimed were mostly sourced from their benefits and pension.

The Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE) said it has secured documents detailing where DAP funding was sourced, including P61.90 billion from state workers’ Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF) and P36 billion from the Pension and Gratuity Fund (PGF).

COURAGE also claimed that other DAP funding sources included P2.5 billion in internal revenue allotments (IRA) of local government units, P17.9 billion from the Department of Education, P17 billion from the Department of Transportation and Communications, P6 billion from the Department of Agriculture (DA), P5.2 billion from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), P4 billion from the Department of Foreign Affairs and P4 billion from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

“The documents alone would prove that at least P98 billion or more than half of the DAP came from the government employees’ benefits and pension,” said COURAGE national president Ferdinand Gaite in a press conference.

“It’s easy for this government to take us for granted, that is why they don’t mind using funds which are originally intended to form part of our benefits,” he added.

Abad: DAP partly funded by personal funds

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad rebutted the claim of COURGAE, saying that it was the fund in the national budget intended for new and vacant personnel positions that partly funded the DAP.

“Yes, we used those funds, but their insinuation that the money came from employees is inaccurate and malicious. No single employee was affected or prejudiced,” Abad told The STAR.

Abad explained that Malacañang created the MPBF as source of money for new and unfilled positions in the bureaucracy. “This is not the appropriation for the salaries for permanent and contractual employees. We released that 100 percent to the agencies at the start of the year.”

The Palace created the MPBF because of the practice of agencies to not fill new and existing but unfilled positions and to declare the unused money as savings and use it as a discretionary fund, Abad noted.

“We wanted to put a stop to that practice, so we separated those funds and put them in the MPBF. They can access the money by sending a request to us the moment they want to hire new employees or fill vacant positions. If they do not recruit personnel for new or unfilled positions or if they do months after the start of the fiscal year, then savings are realized,” he added. – With Mayen Jaymalin, Rhodina Villanueva (The Philippine Star)