Noy to bring his fight to the people

MANILA, Philippines - With the rising prices of goods and the controversy over the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) weighing him down, President Aquino said yesterday he would bring his fight for good governance and against corruption to the grassroots where his “bosses” – the people – can be counted on for support.

“We’ll come up with, perhaps, a manifestation of the support – if I still have the support of our people – and concrete examples of these. Perhaps wearing our yellow ribbons, among other things, just to demonstrate exactly in a quick manner where the sentiments of our people lie,” Aquino said during the “Daylight Dialogue: The Good Governance Challenge” when asked what help he would like to ask from his “bosses” in advancing reforms and preserving gains.

“We will be posting a more detailed list of requests to our bosses in the coming days,” Aquino said.

The Daylight Dialogue at the Rizal Hall of the Palace gathered various members of civil society, academe, media, international development organizations and the private sector to discuss the progress and outlook of the Aquino administration’s governance initiatives. Other participants in the event include representatives from international civil society groups such as those based in Switzerland, Cambodia and Bangladesh.

World Bank president Jim Yong Kim was a resource person in the event.

“What is doable? Again, incentivize the legislature, amongst other things. We are not that far off from elections and this is, I think, the time when all politicians are very attuned to what their bosses want,” he said. “So the bosses have to make that message very clear - perhaps in the form of letters, e-mails, text messages – to their representatives, reminding them that this is what we want, these (are) our priorities, and please execute them as soon as possible. That’s the very first thing,” the President said.

On Monday, the President addressed the nation to defend the DAP.

Aquino announced the plan of the government to appeal the Supreme Court’s decision declaring parts of DAP unconstitutional.

Some quarters have warned that such defiance could lead to a constitutional crisis.

But Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said that by filing a motion for reconsideration, the government is only urging the SC to revisit the basis of its ruling on the unconstitutionality of “acts and practices” related to the implementation of the DAP.

“While the high court affirmed that DAP has been beneficial in terms of providing a stimulus for economic growth, the President notes that its decision has a ‘chilling effect’ on the government’s ability to deliver essential public services,” Coloma said.

In his speeches to the nation Monday night and before the business community yesterday, the President called on the magistrates to consider the welfare and well-being of 98 million Filipinos while performing their constitutional duty to interpret the laws of the land.

“Contrary to apprehensions on a possible ‘constitutional crisis,’ the President believes that a reconsideration of the decision would contribute to sustaining the momentum of economic growth and institutional reforms,” Coloma said.

The President emphasized that more than 50 percent of the P144 billion released under DAP went to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Department of Public Works and Highways and the National Housing Authority (NHA), as he announced the uploading of details on all DAP programs in the Official Gazette website.

“If there was any abuse or misuse of this fund, then those responsible will be held to account” through the Commission on Audit, Coloma said.

In yesterday’s dialogue on good governance, the leaders of the business community affirmed their support for the President’s position, Coloma said.

The President encouraged them to join civil society organizations and other stakeholders in making their voices heard so that the nation’s “vision of lasting and inclusive growth” may be fully attained, Coloma said.

Earlier, Coloma promised to “level up” as Aquino’s satisfaction and approval ratings plunged to their lowest levels in his four years in office.

DAP origins

Aquino also said it was in 2011 when he learned about agencies’ “slow moving programs” and unspent allocations or “savings” and that something had to be done immediately.

“We had to act. We knew that, if we were to bring about inclusive growth sooner rather than later, we needed to be proactive and pump-prime the economy. We chose to do this through a management tool now known as the DAP,” Aquino said.

“Given this, we had a decision to make. Should government be content to leave these funds idle? Or should we find a way to put them to good use – to put them in service of the Filipino people?” he asked.

“It became evident that the latter opinion or option was the only option we could consider if we wanted to stay true to our mandate,” Aquino said.

“With that, I asked my Cabinet what projects they would be able to implement, and what they could not,” he pointed out.

“We agreed that if agencies could not maximize the use of their budgets in the mid-year review, then we would allocate them to programs that would bring benefits to our people in the soonest possible time,” he said.

“This is precisely what we did under the Disbursement Acceleration Program,” he said.

Aquino said he feels his administration is being singled out, judging from the criticism it has been getting for the DAP.

He said his predecessors had employed the same funding tack but had not been criticized for it.

“I have to ask: can the same effects be attributed to DAP’s previous incarnations? My predecessors all had their versions of DAP, called the Reserve Control Account and alternatively Overall Savings,” he said.

“I should add: these former presidents also exercised the authority to transfer appropriations or savings to other branches of government and even to constitutional commissions,” Aquino reiterated, defending and justifying the cross-border realignments.

“Perhaps we are being questioned today simply because we have been truly transparent about it,” he said.

‘Devastating effect’

Aquino also said the suspension of all projects in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) by Gov. Mujiv Hataman reflects a “potentially devastating effect” of the SC decision against DAP on pro-poor programs across the country. - With Delon Porcalla