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BRENDA L. NAZARETH v. REYNALDO A. VILLAR

This case has been cited 7 times or more.

	GR No. 196418 2015-02-10	TECHNICAL EDUCATION v. COA BERSAMIN, J.
The COA is endowed with latitude to determine, prevent, and disallow irregular, unnecessary, excessive, extravagant, or unconscionable expenditures of government funds. It has the power to ascertain whether public funds were utilized for the purpose for which they had been intended by law. The Constitution has made the COA "the guardian of public funds, vesting it with broad powers over all accounts pertaining to government revenue and expenditures and the uses of public funds and property, including the exclusive authority to define the scope of its audit and examination, establish the techniques and methods for such review, and promulgate accounting and auditing rules and regulations."[14] Thus, the COA is generally accorded complete discretion in the exercise of its constitutional duty and responsibility to examine and audit expenditures of public funds, particularly those which are perceptibly beyond what is sanctioned by law.
	GR No. 209287 2015-02-03	MARIA CAROLINA P. ARAULLO v. BENIGNO SIMEON C. AQUINO III BERSAMIN, J.
Further, in Nazareth v. Villar,[34] we clarified that there must be an existing item, project or activity, purpose or object of expenditure with an appropriation to which savings may be transferred for the purpose of augmentation. Accordingly, so long as there is an item in the GAA for which Congress had set aside a specified amount of public fund, savings may be transferred thereto for augmentation purposes. This interpretation is consistent not only with the Constitution and the GAAs, but also with the degree of flexibility allowed to the Executive during budget execution in responding to unforeseeable contingencies.
	GR No. 209287 2015-02-03	MARIA CAROLINA P. ARAULLO v. BENIGNO SIMEON C. AQUINO III BERSAMIN, J.
As a general rule, the nullification of an unconstitutional law or act carries with it the illegality of its effects. However, in cases where nullification of the effects will result in inequity and injustice, the operative fact doctrine may apply.[57] In so ruling, the Court has essentially recognized the impact on the beneficiaries and the country as a whole if its ruling would pave the way for the nullification of the P144.378 Billions[58] worth of infrastructure projects, social and economic services funded through the DAP. Bearing in mind the disastrous impact of nullifying these projects by virtue alone of the invalidation of certain acts and practices under the DAP, the Court has upheld the efficacy of such DAP-funded projects by applying the operative fact doctrine. For this reason, we cannot sustain the Motion for Partial Reconsideration of the petitioners in G.R. No. 209442.
	GR No. 209287 2014-07-01	MARIA CAROLINA P. ARAULLO v. BENIGNO SIMEON C. AQUINO III BERSAMIN, J.
The foregoing history makes it evident that the Constitutional Commission included Section 25(5), supra, to keep a tight rein on the exercise of the power to transfer funds appropriated by Congress by the President and the other high officials of the Government named therein. The Court stated in Nazareth v. Villar:[144]
	GR No. 209287 2014-07-01	MARIA CAROLINA P. ARAULLO v. BENIGNO SIMEON C. AQUINO III BERSAMIN, J.
Nine petitions assailing the constitutionality of the DAP and the issuances relating to the DAP were filed within days of each other, as follows: G.R. No. 209135 (Syjuco), on October 7, 2013; G.R. No. 209136 (Luna), on October 7, 2013; G.R. No. 209155 (Villegas),[8] on October 16, 2013; G.R. No. 209164 (PHILCONSA), on October 8, 2013; G.R. No. 209260 (IBP), on October 16, 2013; G.R. No. 209287 (Araullo), on October 17, 2013; G.R. No. 209442 (Belgica), on October 29, 2013; G.R. No. 209517 (COURAGE), on November 6, 2013; and G.R. No. 209569 (VACC), on November 8, 2013.
	GR No. 209287 2014-07-01	MARIA CAROLINA P. ARAULLO v. BENIGNO SIMEON C. AQUINO III BERSAMIN, J.
Public or government expenditures are generally classified into two categories, specifically: (1) capital expenditures or outlays; and (2) current operating expenditures. Capital expenditures are the expenses whose usefulness lasts for more than one year, and which add to the assets of the Government, including investments in the capital of government-owned or controlled corporations and their subsidiaries.[69] Current operating expenditures are the purchases of goods and services in current consumption the benefit of which does not extend beyond the fiscal year.[70] The two components of current expenditures are those for personal services (PS), and those for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE).
	GR No. 208566 2013-11-19	GRECO ANTONIOUS BEDA B. BELGICA v. EXECUTIVE SECRETARY PAQUITO N. OCHOA PERLAS-BERNABE, J.
While the previous "Congressional Pork Barrel" was apparently discontinued in 1972 after Martial Law was declared, an era when "one man controlled the legislature,"[19] the reprieve was only temporary. By 1982, the Batasang Pambansa had already introduced a new item in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) called the "Support for Local Development Projects" (SLDP) under the article on "National Aid to Local Government Units". Based on reports,[20] it was under the SLDP that the practice of giving lump-sum allocations to individual legislators began, with each assemblyman receiving P500,000.00. Thereafter, assemblymen would communicate their project preferences to the Ministry of Budget and Management for approval. Then, the said ministry would release the allocation papers to the Ministry of Local Governments, which would, in turn, issue the checks to the city or municipal treasurers in the assemblyman's locality. It has been further reported that "Congressional Pork Barrel" projects under the SLDP also began to cover not only public works projects, or so-called "hard projects", but also "soft projects",[21] or non-public works projects such as those which would fall under the categories of, among others, education, health and livelihood.[22]