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The fundamental law guarantees the power of the President,the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House ofRepresentatives, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and theheads of Constitutional Commissions to augment any item from thegeneral appropriations law for their respective offices. This can ecited under Sec. !"#"$, %rticle &' of the ()*+ PhilippineConstitution, which provides that

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No law shall be passed authorizing any transfer of appropriations;however, the President, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of theHouse of Representatives, the Chief usti!e of the Supre"e Court, andthe heads of Constitutional Co""issions "ay, by law, be authorized to

aug"ent any ite" in the general appropriations law for their respe!tiveoffi!es fro" savings in other ite"s of their respe!tive appropriations

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This provision of the Constitution is the main asis for the-ecutive /ranch in creating the 0isursement %cceleration Program#0%P$.

The 0%P was introduced y the %1uino %dministration as a

reform intervention to speed2 up pulic spending and to oosteconomic growth. %llegedly it is not a fund, ut a mechanism tosupport high2 impact priority programs and pro3ects using 4savings5and 4unprogrammed funds5. %ccordingly, the framers defined theterm savings as availale portions or alances of items from6eneral %ppropriations %ct #6%%$ that are free from anyencumbrance or obligationswhich results from$%& the !o"pletionor final dis!ontinuan!e or abandon"ent of a progra", a!tivity, orpro'e!t; $(& unpaid !o"pensation for va!ant or unfilled positionsand leaves of absen!es without pay; or $)& the i"ple"entation ofeffi!ien!y "easures that enable agen!ies to deliver servi!es atlower !ost, and these savings "ay then be used to aug"ent funds,progra"s, a!tivities or pro'e!ts in!luded in the *++#% The 0/7declares that saving rought under the 0%P came from pool ofunreleased appropriations5 such as unreleased Personnel Servicesappropriations which will lapse at the end of the year, unreleasedappropriations of slow2 moving pro3ects and discontinued pro3ectsper 8ero2 /ased /udgeting 9indings.

:e respectfully disagree on their position. :e hold that theterm 4savings5 indicated on the provision of the Constitution shoulde understood to refer to the ecess money after the items thatneeded to e funded have een funded, or those that needed to epaid have een paid pursuant to the udget. :e posit that there1Transcript: Presentation of DBM Sec. Florencio B. Abad to Senate Committee onFinance on the Disbursement Acceleration Program !"1#$

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could e savings only when the P%Ps for which funds had eenappropriated were actually implemented and completed, or finallydiscontinued or aandoned. :e insist that savings could not ereali;ed with certainty in the middle of the fiscal year. !

'n ascertaining the meaning of savings, certain principlesshould e orne in mind. The first principle is that Congress wieldsthe power of the purse, hence they decide on how the udgetshould e spent. 'nvoking the concept of elegata Potestas NonPotest elegari, which means that the power vested to a certainranch or instrumentality of the government may not e delegatedto another department, the -ecutive, having the power of Sword,does not have any capailities to disregard nor to create another

means to spend the udget indicated in the 6%% ecause hisfunction is to eecute the provisions indicated under the saidappropriation law. The second principle in making the President

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-ecution, the allotment will e given to the agencies that areentitled for the said programs laid efore the udget hearing.

%t the last stage, they will check the performance and target

outcomes and then there the udget accountaility report will emade to physical and financial reports of operations. The fact thatthere is an allotment for a specific pro3ect introduced y a certaindepartment to the 0/7 and to the President, it only means that it isnot free from any encumrances and oligations.

:e disagree that savings can e accumulated at the middle ofthe fiscal year, for during the first two 1uarters of the fiscal year,the pro3ects laid y different departments have 3ust started and

accounting for the said pro3ects cannot yet fully e ascertained forudget accountaility report can only e done during the last phaseof the udget cycle. Therefore, the savings ascertained for the 0%Pis in violation of the Third Principle ecause it is merely theoretical,possile and hypothetical. %n actual savings can e conveyed onlyif there was a declaration from the said department that the udgethas een aandoned or finished or there is a clear declaration ofthe same. %pplying the said principle, it cannot e held that asavings can e accumulated on the pool of unreleased udgetecause it haven