SC Justice Hernando: I hate unprogrammed appropriations

“I hate unprogrammed appropriations (UAs).”

That was the blunt expression of Supreme Court Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando during the second round of oral arguments on the national budget on Tuesday, April 21.

For him, UAs “in any form are unconstitutional.”

Citing former budget secretary Butch Abad, who was tapped as an amicus curiae or expert during the first day of the oral arguments, Hernando said that the national budget should be “rigid and with purpose-specific spending architecture.”

UAs are standby funds sourced from new or excess government revenues and foreign loans.

Hernando questioned the constitutionality of UAs by referring to Article VI, Section 25 (2) of the Constitution, which states that every provision in the General Appropriations Bill must relate specifically to a particular appropriation.

Petitioners, meanwhile, challenged the UAs, arguing they serve as a workaround to bypass the constitutional ceiling that prohibits Congress from increasing appropriations beyond the President’s budget proposal.

Hernando characterized UAs as “so risky and heavy that they won’t fit in a single suitcase. They need to be packed into several suitcases.”

The imagery is particularly striking given recent controversies involving cash-filled luggage and kickbacks linked to flood control projects.

UAs, after all, allowed the funding of controversial flood control projects in recent years.

When Solicitor General Darlene Berberabe defended the funds as a tool for “fiscal flexibility,” Hernando was quick to pounce on the semantics.

“I have a problem with the word flexibility, or fiscal flexibility, as you said. Flexibility comes from the word flexible or flex. And another word for flex is bend. Are you advocating bending the Constitution?” Hernando asked Berberabe.

“Definitely not, Your Honor,” Berberabe responded.

Hernando also pointed out that there’s no need for UAs, arguing that there are other mechanisms such as the passage of a supplemental budget, contingency funds, and budget realignment.

For Hernando, UAs need to be cut off, not with a knife, but with a chainsaw.

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While questioning the Solicitor General on the legality of billions of pesos in UAs, Hernando said that if President Donald Trump discovered the Philippine budgeting system, he would have a “Jerry Maguire” moment.

The Justice was referring to the 1996 Cameron Crowe classic, Jerry Maguire, starring Tom Cruise as a sports agent who realizes his life is hollow without his partner. In the film, Cruise tells Renée Zellweger, “You complete me.”

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In Justice Hernando’s reimagining, the “romance” is between a president and a flexible budget.

“If Donald Trump sees our UA, he will say, ‘UA, you complete me, because I can continue with my wars in the Middle East without congressional approval and oversight.'” Hernando said. 

The next rounds of oral arguments on the national budget are scheduled for June 2, 9, and 16. – Rappler.com