SC to PNoy: Get off your high horse

It is not too accurate to view the 13-0 DAP vote of the Supreme Court as a landmark in constitutional interpretation. The DAP, in the context of three co-equal branches of government—and with Congress as the branch in charge of the national budget—is a funding aberration, plain and simple. Advanced democracies do allow their aggressive presidents to overreach, but not on matters that pertain to juggling the national budget around like a soft ball.

The DAP and its previous incarnations have been tolerated because item-by-item budgeting by Congress has been eviscerated by contemporary practice. The power of Mr. Marcos over the budget during the martial law years has been carried over into the post martial law budget process because executive powers have remained dominant and Congress has been essentially lazy on budget matters that do not cover pork allocations.