Aquino tells nation: I did not steal

MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino III defended anew the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) of his administration and categorically denied that he stole from public coffers through this fund scheme.

In a televised speech on Wednesday evening, Aquino once again hinted that those who were involved in the alleged multi-billion peso pork barrel scam were the ones behind the attacks against the DAP.

"We are not the same. I have never stolen. I am not a thief. I am the one who goes after thieves," Aquino told his critics.

"The issue here is theft. I did not steal. Those who have been accused of stealing are those who are sowing confusion; they want to dismantle all that we have worked so hard to achieve on the straight path. We were stolen from, we were deceived—and now we are the ones being asked to explain?" Aquino said.

The Aquino administration has been criticized for the DAP, which was introduced in 2011 to supposedly boost the economy.

The fund scheme, which realigns government savings from stalled projects to speed up other programs, has been attacked for being allegedly unconstitutional.

Responding to his critics, Aquino maintained that the DAP has a legal basis and it is not another form of pork barrel.

"The DAP is not theft. Theft is illegal. Spending through DAP is clearly allowed by the Constitution and by other laws. DAP is only a name for a process in which government can spend both savings and new and additional revenues," said Aquino.

The President said the benefits of the projects that received the re-channeled savings reached the people faster and earlier. He cited several supposed gains of the country from the DAP scheme.

For one, Aquino claimed that according to the World Bank, the DAP contributed 1.3 percentage points to the gross domestic product growth of the country in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Other projects and agencies that benifitted from the DAP, according to the President were:

- the Project NOAH of the Department of Science and Technology
- the Training-for-Work Scholarship Program of TESDA
- Air Force and the police
- infrastructure in Mindanao and other parts of the country; restore
- GSIS premiums of DepEd employees

The DAP controversy and other allegations of fund misuse recently affected affected Aquino's approval ratings.

Results of a Social Weather Stations survey conducted from September 20 to 23 showed that Aquino's net ratings declined to a "good" score of +49 from a "very good" +64 last June.

Meanwhile, a Pulse Asia survey conducted from September 14 to 27 revealed that the Aquino administration failed to score majority approval ratings on eight of 10 national issues.

The Aquino administration's approval rating on fighting government corruption also declined from 59 percent to 47 percent, the same survey said.

The STAR also reported that Aquino's rating fell from 79 percent to a record low of 35 percent in a survey conducted by Malacañang this month.