PNoy Lashes DAP Critics on National TV

In a stinging rebuke against critics of his administration’s Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), President Benigno Aquino III went on televised speech on Wednesday night vowing that this will not stop him from going after those who abused the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), Gma news online reported.

“Kung sa tingin ninyo, titigil ako sa pag-usig; kung sa tingin ninyo, maililihis ninyo ang atensyon ng publiko; kung sa tingin ninyo, makakatakas kayo sa pagnanakaw; nagkakamali kayo ng tantya sa akin, at sa taumbayang Pilipino,” Aquino said.

According to Malacañang statement issued earlier on Wednesday, the broadcast marked the first time the President asked networks for airtime to “directly address the Filipino people” following a televised message last month where he also called the abolition of the PDAF after reports that it is being systematically misused by several lawmakers in cahoots with several private individuals, Gma news online report stated.

The report said the DAP became an issue after Senator Jinggoy Estrada exposed that he himself together with other senators who favored the ouster of former Chief Justice Renato Corona in May last year, received P50 million each as additional funds months after the impeachment trial.

The funds where the DAP came from were not bribes according to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad who, earlier, also maintained that these were not bribes or incentives for senators. Abad said the DAP fund, which are basically realigned savings, were released to address sluggish government spending in 2011, Gma news online said.

Senator Estrada, along with Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon Bong Revilla, was among the respondents in plunder and malversation charges filed by the Department of Justice in connection with the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Source: Gma news online