Binay ally links President’s speech to SC case

Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

An ally of Vice President Jejomar Binay believes that President Aquino’s speech on prime-time television on Wednesday was meant to influence the Supreme Court magistrates who are set to deliberate on the constitutionality of the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

“It was obviously a desperate move to call the attention of the Supreme Court to contemplate on the supposed benefits of the DAP. The President is aware that an SC decision against the DAP will have a damaging impact on his administration, and will expose the hypocrisy of his administration,” said Navotas Rep. Tobias Tiangco said in a statement.

Tiangco, a spokesman of Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance, said Malacañang did not intend to appease an angry mob, otherwise, the most noble act would have been to give up the President’s own pork barrel and abolish the DAP.

“He was actually subtly exerting pressure on the Supreme Court that is why he went out of his way to sound rational and reasonable on prime-time TV. But unfortunately it was not a masterful job in laying the predicate to appeal for a constitutional blunder that is the DAP,” Tiangco said.

Saying the President’s stunt not only backfired but was also pointless, Tiangco said Aquino should have left it to the Office of the Solicitor General to do the defending in its scheduled comment to the DAP cases due on Nov. 7. The Supreme Court has set oral arguments on petitions on the unconstitutionality of the DAP on Nov. 11.

“Malacañang is mindful that an unfavorable decision by the court would have a negative political bearing that is why the President took the unprecedented route of going live on national television,” he said.

Tiangco was hopeful that the justices would not forget “how the DAP was used to influence a coequal branch of government” during the impeachment and Senate trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, who was convicted of fudging his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.

He was referring to the P50 million to P100 million in “extra pork” released by Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to the senators shortly after Corona’s conviction.

Tiangco also pointed out that the justices should take note of how the President had continued to exert a firmer grip on the Constitutional Fiscal Autonomy Group (composed of the judiciary, Commission on Audit, Office of the Ombudsman, the Commission on Elections and the Civil Service Commission) through special spending limits inserted in the annual budget.

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Aquino speech meant to sway SC on DAP, says UNA