High-stakes SC fight rages on P-Noy pork

PRESSURE TACTICS: The pressure being applied on the Supreme Court by Malacañang and its House allies to uphold the constitutionality of the Disbursement Acceleration Program, a source of presidential pork, is being stepped up as the tribunal prepares to rule on the issue.

The Supreme Court as an institution has no feeling and harbors no fear of anyone. It is not the 15-strong tribunal but its individual members who are heirs to such human frailties as dread and anxiety.
Only an SC justice can succumb to pressure tactics or blackmail. We pray then that justices with pivotal votes will stick to their conviction and that the tribunal will emerge from this bruising high-stakes fight with its integrity intact.

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OVERSIGHT POWER: Senior congressmen smarting from the Court’s taking away their pork barrel for being unconstitutional are threatening the justices with impeachment on the basis of their speculation that the tribunal’s Judiciary Development Fund may have been misused.
But if it would be impeachment, who would stand as accused — Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, the entire SC membership, just the justices appointed by former President Gloria Arroyo, or only those inclined to vote against DAP?
Selective impeachment will be highly suspicious. It will not win public support, unless it is preceded by the usual massive media demolition job on the targeted justices.
The House threatens to unsheathe its oversight sword inserted in the 2014 national budget. The weapon empowers the Congress to review the use of the funds of the Judiciary, a separate branch of government that is guaranteed fiscal autonomy by the Constitution.
In what looks to us like a bad move, Malacañang has joined the fray by commenting and acknowledging that indeed the Congress could (it sounded like “should”) wield its newly acquired oversight powers to check how the SC spends its money.

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‘RESBAK’: Noting the looming showdown on the presidential pork (DAP) whose constitutionality is under review by the tribunal, Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco said:
“The Congress had not questioned the fiscal autonomy of the Supreme Court until now. In street parlance, this is ‘resbak’ (retaliation) from the Congress after the SC declared the lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund as unconstitutional.”
Tiangco, who is United Nationalist Alliance secretary general, said Liberal Party researchers have been digging up on suspected corruption and misuse of the JDF in complete disregard of the Court’s fiscal autonomy.
But administration stalwart Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga said fiscal autonomy must be subservient to fiscal accountability and responsibility. He pointed out also that the Congress now enjoys oversight powers to review the use of judiciary funds.

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PALACE BULLYING: Tiangco said Malacañang and its congressional point men have until Jan. 28, when the SC oral arguments on DAP are to open, to increase pressure on the justices to vote favorably on the presidential pork.

“We’ve to be very vigilant,” he said. “We’ve already seen their moves along the impeachment idea, the Department of Justice-National Bureau of Investigation probe on ‘Ma’am Arlene,’ the scrutiny of the judicial budget, the probe on the JDF and the Special Allowance for the Judiciary.”

He assailed as hypocrisy the Aquino administration’s invoking a 29-year-old Marcos presidential decree to poke into judicial funds. Malacañang’s “bullying,” he said, undermines not only fiscal autonomy, but also the principle of check and balance.

Elsewhere, a ranking member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition disclosed days ago that Liberal party gofers have approached them for support in the threatened filing of impeachment complaints against SC justices who do not support the legality of DAP.

Sources said the administration needs only three more SC votes to tilt the balance in favor of Malacañang on the DAP issue.

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IMPEACHMENT UNLIKELY: The decision of the Supreme Court on DAP or presidential pork will have a survival impact on President Aquino and the LP-led administration.

Having DAP declared unconstitutional — like the PDAF before it – could expose President Aquino to possible impeachment, if it could be shown that DAP was created by Budget Secretary Florencio Abad upon his instructions.

At this point, however, even if its constitutionality is voted down by the SC, the President’s impeachment is still a distant possibility.

First, Abad could take the fall by saying DAP was his sole creation on the belief that it was legal and necessary to speed up disbursement and stimulate the economy. He could swear that the President did not order him to create it, although that may sound a bit incredible.

Second, with the President still in virtual control of an overwhelming number of congressmen, it is unlikely that an impeachment complaint against him will prosper.

However, with political loyalty being a transactional item in the legislative market, the votes might shift if/when patronage (pork) funds dwindle and the President’s popularity continues to drop.

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source:  POSTSCRIPT By Federico D. Pascual Jr. (The Philippine Star)