Palace ready to defend 2015 lump sum funds before SC – Lacierda

Malacañang is ready to defend the lump sum allocations in the 2015 national budget questioned before the Supreme Court (SC), Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Wednesday.

“We will not hesitate to respond naman. We are on good, sound legal footing. What Butch Abad said publicly in media, we will defend before the courts,” Lacierda said.

Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad earlier said that the public should not be misled in assertions that “lump sums in the budget are tantamount to fund irregularity.”

Lacierda said the Aquino government had never denied the existence of lump sum funds, citing as an example contingency funds spent during calamities and natural disasters.

“Talagang of necessity, magkakaroon ka talaga ng ganung mga pondo at sinasabi naman ni Secretary Butch Abad iyon. Hindi naman natin ikinakaila na meron, for instance, 'yung contingency fund lalo na,” he explained.

The Palace spokesperson singled out Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, a critic of the administration, as he commented on the use of contingency funds.

“How do you predict how many storms are coming? You know, I would be glad if Neri Colmenares will be able to divine to us how many storms will come in 2015 or 2016,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the SC asked Malacañang and Congress to submit their respective comments on the petition filed by the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa) questioning the lump sum funds in the 2015 budget.

In its petition for certiorari, prohibition and mandamus, the group said its examination of the 2015 budget revealed "scandalous and unconscionable freight" of lump sum appropriations amounting to P424,144,763,000.00 "cleverly embedded" in nine strategic departments and two agencies of the executive department.

It added that the funds were "highly vulnerable to the whirligig of transactional, rent-seeking and patronage politics." — BM, GMA News