Groups hit Aquino’s defense of DAP, press call for abolition

Civil society groups and even opposition officials voiced disappointment over President Aquino’s defense of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) last Wednesday.

They called for its abolition along with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), an appeal supported by Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma.

Speaking to reporters, Palma said the DAP has been riddled with controversies and it should be replaced with another program that is transparent to the public.

“It would be better to abolish the DAP because it brings forth huge controversies. I hope there will be another means to respond to problems on poverty, sickness and education,” the 63-year-old prelate said.

Palma, the outgoing president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said the Church, along with civil societies and movements, also wants to end the DAP, like the Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) of legislators.

“The president has the duty to help the poor and yet the clamor of many is that the DAP has been very controversial. We could not understand how it is spent. I hope there would be a more transparent way to respond to the needs of the people,” he said.

Aquino defended the DAP despite the clamor for its abolition.

Discretion

In his TV address, Aquino explained that the DAP is constitutional and has been effectively used as a mechanism to stimulate economic growth.

Groups like the Scrap Pork Network and even the BPO Industry Employees’ Network (BIEN) said they were very disappointed with President Aquino’s TV address.

But allies of President Aquino defended DAP, saying that elected representatives knew what projects were needed on the ground.

“While the executive has full discretion over that, it’s also best to ask stakeholders, who in this case are elected officials, to state what they need,” Marikina Rep. Federico Romero Quimbo said.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone saw nothing wrong with consulting the elected representatives on what priority projects in the remotest barangays of the country should be funded.

“What is wrong and objectionable is if you pocket these public funds,” he said. Evardone said the President should be given some leeway when it came to disbursing public funds.

In the upper chamber, Senate President Franklin Drilon called on the public to bring back its attention to the prosecution of those officials who allegedly pocketed the billions of pesos in pork barrel funds.

“The DAP is simply a slogan for the utilization of savings in accordance with the provisions of the 2013 GAA [General Appropriations Act]. It’s not illegal,” said Sen. Francis Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on finance. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol with Inquirer reports