It was done in good faith – Palace

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino cannot be held accountable, much less be the subject of an impeachment complaint, following the Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday declaring key provisions of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) unconstitutional, Malacañang asserted yesterday.

“The basic issue is: does it rise to a level of an impeachable offense because an act is declared unconstitutional? We do not limit ourselves, for instance, to the fact that this particular act has been declared unconstitutional,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

Lacierda explained the Aquino administration has always acted in “good faith,” including the release of additional P100 million – under DAP – to senators who voted to convict former chief justice Renato Corona in May 2012.

“Basically, if you just limit yourself to the dispositive portion of the (SC) decision, it does not speak of the entire DAP as unconstitutional,” Lacierda pointed out, shooting down calls for Aquino to undergo impeachment process.

“We have always believed that the President has served with integrity and faithfulness, and the Filipino people know that very well,” Lacierda said.

“Did the executive branch do these DAP releases in good faith? To accelerate the projects? With certainty, we did this in good faith, yes,” he said.

Lacierda pointed out that this is not the first time a presidential policy had been declared unconstitutional, since “past presidents also had policies declared unconstitutional.”

As to talk of criminal liability regarding the alleged illegal use of DAP, the high tribunal had not granted the petition for the National Bureau of Investigation or the Office of the Solicitor General to file charges against thos involved with DAP.

“We have several acts that have been declared unconstitutional in the past, not just in this administration, it never reached the level of impeachability,” he maintained.

“Does it rise to the level of impeachability? That’s the question that they should ask,” Lacierda said.

‘Unproductive and divisive’

Vice President Jejomar Binay said calls to impeach Aquino over the DAP issue would be “unproductive and divisive.”

“President Aquino is our leader duly elected by our people. He has the people’s mandate and we should support him. This is why talks of impeaching President Aquino are both unproductive and divisive,” Binay said.

Binay also called on his opposition allies in the House of Representatives to block any move to impeach the President.

Some from the opposition had closed ranks to contain fallout of the SC ruling on the DAP.

Parañaque City Rep. Gustavo Tambunting, a member of Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), said as the DAP was declared illegal, some of his colleagues are now thinking of ousting Aquino.

Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said he expects cause-oriented groups and legal organizations to file an impeachment complaint against Aquino on or before he delivers his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 28.

“The political landscape has changed because of the SC decision. The President cannot now harp on ‘daang matuwid’ (straight path) like an old song because no less than the SC has declared one of its flagship programs as illegal and unconstitutional,” Ridon said.

According to Binay, Tambunting said the DAP “wasn’t done in bad faith.”

“I doubt if impeachment will gain any ground as we in the majority support the President and his reform programs,” Tambunting said.

“This is the directive issued by our party leader, Vice President Binay.”

There around 10 UNA members in the House, including world boxing idol and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao, Makati City Rep. Abigail Binay, Cebu Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia and Navotas City Rep. Tobias Tiangco.– Paolo Romero, Christina Mendez, Rhodina Villanueva