MANILA, Philippines - Filipinos waiting to hear what President Aquino will say in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) – whether he will continue his scathing tirades against the justices of the Supreme Court – will just have to wait for the speech on Monday.
“Let us wait for the SONA. It will happen on Monday,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. told a news briefing yesterday.
Coloma was asked if the President would highlight the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) in his fifth SONA.
Aquino had been critical of the high tribunal after it declared portions of the DAP illegal and unconstitutional.
So far, Aquino has made public his anti-judiciary sentiment thrice – in his July 14 national televised address, in his speech at the World Bank-sponsored Daylight Dialogue on good governance and the 150th birth anniversary of national hero Apolinario Mabini last Wednesday.
“The President made the speech on the DAP issue thrice already and he has the discipline to cut short his speech. He is trying his best to clear the issue,” Coloma said.
Coloma insisted the government has been transparent and straightforward on the DAP issue.
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte defended the President on his right to be heard over the DAP issue.
“Everybody has the right to be heard,” Duterte said.
For his part, Duterte said he has nothing to do with the DAP as a local official.
He said the President, being the chief executive, had to answer the Supreme Court.
Whether the President’s expression was directed at the Supreme Court or anybody, Duterte said Aquino was entitled to say his piece.
“The right to be heard, that is what I am defending,” he said.
The Aquino administration is being hounded by a controversy that stemmed from the stimulus fund, key portions of which were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
The program made headlines after Sen. Jinggoy Estrada had claimed that senators who voted to impeach chief justice Renato Corona were given P50 million in additional funding.
The budget department justified the release, saying the funds came from DAP, which seeks to promote economic activity and hasten the delivery of social services.
DAP releases came from the overall savings of the national government, which included unprogrammed funds generated from windfall revenue collections and unreleased appropriations from slow-moving projects. – With Flores, Alexis Romero, Edith Regalado