MANILA, Philippines - Senate President Franklin Drilon, Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II and other close allies of President Aquino were accused yesterday of getting the “choicest cuts” from the P177-billion Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
Representatives Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna said major projects of Drilon and Roxas were among the first to receive funding from DAP before the Supreme Court (SC) declared it unconstitutional.
Colmenares said among the first projects that DAP had funded were the Jalaur Dam in Iloilo and the supposed LRT 1 and 2 rehabilitation.
“How can the Jalaur Dam pet project of Senator Drilon be fast disbursing when it would take years to complete?” he asked.
These ran counter to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad’s claim that the program was used to fund fast-disbursing projects to spur economic growth, he added.
Colmenares said the agreement between the government and Export-Import Bank of Korea to finance the dam with counterpart funds in the Philippines was signed only on Aug. 9, 2012, and that it is not in the 2011 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
“But how come that on Dec. 21, 2011 or at least seven months before the loan signing, President Aquino already approved the release of P450 million in DAP funds for the dam?” he asked.
Zarate said the LRT Lines 1 and 2 rehabilitation projects were allotted P1.8 billion in October 2011, and almost three years have passed but the projects are not yet complete.
“Only about 40 percent of the fund or P889 million has been disbursed,” he said.
“Clearly, Secretary Abad is lying before us on national television. This, despite it being not appropriated in the 2011 GAA and the LRT commuters still suffer the same fate every day when they ride the LRT.”
Zarate criticized Drilon for acting as if it was just fine for Abad to violate the law during the Senate hearing on the DAP.
“For a Senate president to act like that is unparliamentary,” he said. “He should have at least chided the DBM for violating the GAA. It is as if the Senate president willingly acted in complicity with the DBM for violating the GAA.
“It is no wonder that Senator Drilon was the one coaching Secretary Abad during the DAP Senate hearing, and that President Aquino’s Cabinet secretaries were there to defend the DAP because many of them were the ones who got the funds.”
Aquino criticized at UP
At the University of the Philippines, the College of Law student government criticized Aquino for his televised remarks implying a constitutional crisis over the SC decision on the DAP.
“The (UP Law student government) condemns the President’s implied threat of a constitutional crisis in the event that the Supreme Court does not reconsider its decision,” read the statement released on its Facebook page.
“This is an act which contravenes the doctrine of separation of powers and stands in utter disrespect of the Court, the latter being the sole arbiter to determine whether or not there has been grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of any branch or instrumentality of the government.”
The student government backed the SC decision and demanded full accountability from all government officials involved in its creation, particularly Aquino.
“In a country which has committed itself to the rule of law and the supremacy of the Constitution, we cannot tolerate any act in contravention of the highest law of the land, regardless of the status of the individuals propagating it or the rectitude of their intention,” read the statement.
The student government said allowing Aquino to get away with DAP sets a dangerous precedent as it undermines the “authority of the judiciary and its constitutionally mandated judicial power.”
“The institutionalization of practices clearly against the law can never be rationalized by good intentions,” read the statement.
“Truly, the Filipino people cannot stand idly and watch the executive insist on the contrary.”
Another criticism
Bishops from the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) said Aquino ignores the people’s cry for an end to pork barrel politics, particularly presidential pork barrel.
Bishop Reuel Marigza, UCCP general secretary, said Aquino “deflected attention towards the Napoles pork barrel scam and projected himself as ferreting out corruption and bad practices.”
“Worse, President Aquino attempted to defend his misdoings as both correct and in good faith,” he said.
“As we continue to scrutinize the processes used by DAP, we clearly see violations of the law.”
Joining Marigza in the protest were UCCP bishops Elorde Sambat in North Luzon jurisdictional area; Emergencio Padillo in Middle Luzon; Joel Tendero in South Luzon; Jaime Moriles in East Visayas; Jezer Bertoldo in West Visayas; Melzar Labuntog in North-West Mindanao, and Hamuel Tequis in South-East Mindanao jurisdictional area.
The bishops accused Aquino of encroaching on the power of the legislature “by deceptively re-naming allocated budgets as savings and using them for projects and purposes that had not undergone congressional approval.
“President Aquino has obviously veered off any daang matuwid,” they said.
“What makes matters worse and insults our Christian sensibility,“ they said, “is that DAP continues to be insisted as a measure to ensure that funds are properly used so that social services and public goods are delivered to the people – especially the poor – as swiftly as possible as if we are expected to accept violations of law because they are for the poor.”
“The (DAP) has become a path to betrayal of the public’s trust, causing severe damage to Aquino’s reputation and destroying any semblance of fighting corruption.”
Divine guidance
Bishop Vicente Navarra and the Diocese of Bacolod held a prayer vigil last night at the San Sebastian Cathedral to ask for divine guidance to enlighten the nation on the issues of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and DAP.
In a statement Fr. Felix Pasquin, San Sebastian Cathedral rector, said the Prayer Vigil for Integrity, Accountability and Transparency in Public Service will held after the 6 p.m. Mass. – Paolo Romero, Janvic Mateo, Artemio Dumlao, Danny Dangcalan