MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino maintained yesterday that the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) was no secret but had been vilified apparently to divert public attention from the scandal over the misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of lawmakers.
Aquino told members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap) in their annual presidential forum that he discussed DAP with them two years ago and that it became a driver for the country’s economic growth.
“Since I am in a room full of journalists, perhaps I can leave it to you to connect the dots. All of these attacks came after plunder cases, among others, that were filed before the Office of the Ombudsman against a few well-known politicians,†the President said.
“And perhaps, again because I am in a room full of journalists, I do not need to remind you of the true issue that has seemingly been drowned out by all the background noise. And so I ask you: Let’s keep our eye on the ball. The public was outraged by the audacity with which public officials allegedly stole from the national coffers through PDAF,†he said.
The Department of Justice filed on Sept. 16 a plunder complaint against trader Janet Lim-Napoles, Senators Ramon Revilla Jr., Juan Ponce Enrile, and Jinggoy Estrada, and two former members of the House of Representatives who allegedly collected millions of pesos each in kickbacks as part of the P10-billion pork barrel scam.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also filed plunder charges yesterday at the Office of the Ombudsman against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and 23 others, including former officials of her administration and Napoles, for their alleged involvement in the P900-million Malampaya fund scam.
Aquino said the administration shared the outrage against PDAF or pork barrel misuse and that the executive branch abolished PDAF in the 2014 budget proposal it presented to Congress.
He added they followed evidence so they could hold all those who committed wrongdoing accountable.
“Our media and our people are far too good, far too wise to be grossly and brazenly led to the wrong issue. Plunderers should be taken to account,†Aquino said.
In 2011, the President said he addressed the Focap for the first time and during that period, they had to face a delicate balancing act as they uncovered anomalies, tried to correct the system to avoid corruption and at the same time work to pump prime the economy.
“This stimulus program that heralded our country’s economic boom was named the Disbursement Acceleration Program. You may have heard of it. After all, at this point, who has not? For the past few weeks, nearly two years after I announced it, it has been unjustly and oddly vilified in the media. Perhaps I can repeat that for emphasis. Two years after I announced the program - nearly two years after the same media lauded government for its resourcefulness, and after two years worth of projects that have helped perhaps millions of our countrymen - it is receiving intense criticism from some quarters,†the President said.
The legality of such a process has never been in question, Aquino pointed out and it was clearly stated in Executive Order 292, or the Administrative Code of 1987, among other laws.
The President said as some agencies have to retool for good governance, they have the others take up the slack and this was the idea behind the DAP as stimulus package.
The President said the savings, along with additional and new sources of funds, could be spent strategically to accelerate and expand much-needed programs.
It was an embodiment of their campaign promise, he said, by curbing corruption they saved money and were able to channel this to programs that would bring them closer to the goal of alleviating poverty. With Christina Mendez