The Disbursement Acceleration Program in the Philippines is a "special" budget allocated to accelerate or hasten a government project without Congress or Senate's approval. This replaces the traditional pork barrel, the

Priority Development Assistance Fund The Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) was a discretionary fund in the Philippines available to members of Congress. Originally established as the Countrywide Development Fund (CDF) in 1990, it was designed to allow legislators to fund sm ...

(PDAF), after the

Pork barrel scam The Priority Development Assistance Fund scam, also called the PDAF scam or the pork barrel scam, is a political scandal involving the alleged misuse by several members of the Congress of the Philippines of their Priority Development Assistance ...

was uncovered in 2013.

History

During President

Benigno Aquino III Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III (; February 8, 1960 – June 24, 2021), also known as Noynoy Aquino and colloquially as PNoy, was a Filipino politician who served as the 15th president of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016. The son of ...

's term, he instituted budget reforms, as opposed to

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo (, born April 5, 1947), often referred to by her initials GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician serving as one of the House Deputy Speakers since 2022, and previously from 2016 to 2017. She previously ...

's style of spending funds. Due to the reforms, he reduced funds in some, added a little in some, and the rest is reserved for emergencies like disasters and crisis management and foreign debts and deficits. The consequence is a lot of funds unspent, slower fund release and sometimes, underspent funds were returned to the National Treasury. In order to solve the problem, the President, along with his budger secretary and fellow Liberal party member

Florencio Abad Florencio "Butch" Barsana Abad (born July 13, 1954) is a Filipino lawyer and politician. Having held many cabinet-level ranks in the past, he was appointed by President Benigno Aquino III as Secretary of the Philippine Department of Budget and Ma ...

, instituted a program that accelerates fund spending in all public works and agencies badly needing funds.

Issues

DAP was rumoured to be used by Aquino and Abad to bribe senators and congressmen to impeach and oust

Renato Corona Renato Tereso Antonio Coronado Corona (October 15, 1948 – April 29, 2016) was a Filipino judge who was the 23rd chief justice of the Philippines from 2010 to 2012. He served as an associate justice after being appointed by President Gloria ...

. According to some senators and representatives, the DAP was used to buy their vote. Both Malacañang and Abad denied the accusations and defended their actions as "in good faith".

Discontinuation

The Supreme Court ruled that the DAP, along with the Pork Barrel, are unconstitutional and must be discontinued.

References

External links

Program web site
{{Benigno Aquino III Politics of the Philippines Presidency of Benigno Aquino III