In their 23-page comment submitted to the high court on June 8, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Corazon Soliman, through the Office of the Solicitor General(OSG), argued Pimentel and his co-petitioners Sergio Tadeo, Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) President of Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, and Nelson Alcantara, Barangay Captain of Barangay Sta. Monica, Quezon City, had no legal standing to file a petition for certiorari and prohibition against the implementation of the program.Under 4Ps, poor families are given a subsidy of P500 per month or P6,000 a year in health and nutrition assistance; education assistance of P300 per child per month or P3,000 for one school year up to 3 children only; and a subsidy of P1,400 per month or P15,000 annually as long as specific conditions are complied with.
The conditional cash transfer has been dubbed the Aquino government's flagship program on poverty reduction and social development. A total of 321,000 households are targeted to benefit from the program.
"Here, petitioners failed to establish they have sustained, or will sustain, direct injury as a result of the implementation of the CCTP. The interest of the party plaintiff must be personal and one based on a desire to vindicate the constitutional right of some third and unrelated party," the comment read.
Respondents Ochoa and Soliman pointed out that none of the local government units tasked to work hand in hand with the inter-agency network led by the DSWD have objected to the allocation of public funds for the program, nor is the matter of transcendental importance.
"The allegations of constitutional and statutory violations of respondents are unsubstantiated by facts and are mere challenges on the wisdom of the 4Ps. In addition, parties with a more direct and specific interest in the questions being raised -- that is the affected LGU -- undoubtedly exist and are not included as parties to the petition," respondents argued.
Respondents also maintained that while local government units(LGU's) are accorded plenary powers to ensure that they become self-reliant political units and effective partners of the national government, they have no power over programs and services funded by the national government under the annual General Appropriations Act(GAA).
"... the Local Government Code itself recognizes that nationally funded programs for the delivery of basic services remain in the hands of the national government," respondents said.
In their petition filed last March, Pimentel, et al. alleged the CCTP is tantamount to "recentralization of the already devolved functions under the Local Government Code of 1991" and violates the constitutional provision mandating the state to ensure the autonomy of local governments. Petitioners also argued that the responsibility and functions of delivering social welfare, agriculture and health care services were devolved to local governments.
But respondents argued that a presumption of validity of the GAA for fiscal year 2011 is present.
"...considering that the GAA of 2011 was enacted after the Local Government Code, it is presumed that the legislature intended to enact a valid, sensible law and just law and one which operates no further than may be necessary to effectuate the specific purpose of the law.
"Instead of interfering in the local affairs, the 4Ps in fact calls upon the LGUs, as agents of the national government, to ensure availability of the supply side on health and education in the target areas," their comment read.
As their final point, respondents held that "the wisdom of appropriating funds to respondent DSWD instead of the local government units is a political question that is outside the power of judicial review."
"Petitioner's claim is bereft of merit. The issue of whether or not the Php21B should have been given directly to the LGU instead of respondent DSWD is a policy-determination matter which falls exclusively within the sphere of authority of the executive branch. Likewise, petitioners' attack on the budgetary allocations made by Congress for the 4Ps fundamentally strikes at the wisdom of the law, which poses a political question that falls beyond judicial review," their comment read.
The allocation for the 4Ps for fiscal year 2011 is by far the program's biggest budget since its implementation in 2008 during the term of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
To date, 6,000 pilot households from the municipalities of Sibagat and Esperanza in Agusan del Sur, Lopez-Jaena and Bonifacio in Misamis Occidental, and Pasay and Caloocan cities in the National Capital Region(NCR) have received cash assistance through the 4Ps since January 2008.
