Escudero, Poe on Aquino’s defense of DAP: The law is the law
Senators Grace Poe and Chiz Escudero. INQUIRER PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – While they understand President Benigno Aquino III’s frustration over the Supreme Court’s ruling against the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), two administration senators said the “law is the law” and that the Constitution should be “faithfully executed.”
‘PNoy (Aquino) means well and I think he just wanted to explain and share his frustration with the delays in project implementation that the SC ruling on DAP may bring about,” Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero said on Tuesday, reacting to Aquino’s televised defense of DAP on Monday.
“I can understand the President’s expression of frustration with the Supreme Court’s refusal to appreciate on constitutional grounds the legitimate basis and consequent general positive economic results of the DAP. I concede to the noble intentions of DAP as mentioned by PNoy,” Poe said.
“However, the Constitution is above all other laws and should be faithfully executed.”
“Regardless of probability, the President though should not be faulted for seeking reconsideration which after all is a legal remedy he is still allowed to make,” Poe added.
Both Escudero and Poe belong to the majority bloc in the Senate.
Another administration ally, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, meanwhile, believes the Aquino administration had “legal basis and noble objective” when they implemented the controversial program
Trillanes said Aquino was able to enumerate in his speech some of the gains brought about by the DAP.
“We’ll now await PNoy’s promise to provide details as to where the DAP funds ended up so that the public would know if the funds were stolen or not,” he said.
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