MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad are ready for criminal charges that might be filed against them after June 30 in connection with the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
“The President and I have analyzed DAP up to its tiniest detail and we are prepared for any case arising out of it,” Abad, who is a lawyer, said yesterday in a television interview.
He said there was no bad faith on their part in undertaking the economic stimulus program despite a Supreme Court (SC) ruling that four practices under it were unconstitutional.
“The Supreme Court itself declared that DAP benefitted the economy and the country. It accelerated economic growth in 2012 and 2013,” he said.
Incoming justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has said he would review DAP and file charges if necessary.
At least one case in connection with the program is pending in the Office of the Ombudsman. The respondents include Aquino and Abad.
The DAP practices the SC has declared unconstitutional included cross-border fund transfers (from the executive to the legislature or from the executive to the judiciary), declaration of savings before the end of the year and impoundment of appropriations.
Under the ruling, the high court said good faith and regularity of actions should be presumed on the part of Aquino, Abad and those who implemented DAP.
Complainants should prove bad faith and irregularity, it said.
Abad also said record levels of public spending for social services like education, health and infrastructure have been achieved under the Aquino administration.
During Aquino’s six-year watch, he said the amount of public funds allocated for infrastructure rose from P165 billion to P780 billion, while the budget for health jumped from P31 billion to P132 billion.
He said funds for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) or conditional cash transfer (CCT) to the poor increased from about P10 billion in 2010 to P64 billion this year.
“The number of CCT beneficiaries went up from 800,000 to 4.6 million families,” he added.
Abad noted that millions of poor and senior citizens were covered by health insurance with the government paying for their premium contributions.
He pointed out that the country, for the first time in its history, “has consistently earned credit rating upgrades with no downgrade,” allowing it to borrow funds from foreign and local sources at minimal interest and to keep domestic lending rates low.