Last Sunday, President Rodrigo Duterte revived the scandal regarding the misuse of funds from the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) by former President Noynoy Aquino and key aides and allies namely former budget chief Florencio Abad and even Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
Duterte said Aquino’s administration continued to use DAP even after the Supreme Court had ruled it is illegal, and pointed Abad as the main culprit. Then-President Aquino was accused in 2013 – when the DAP was revealed on the Senate floor – of having used the multi-billion funds that DBM had practically juggled in order to “buy” the votes of senator-jurors in the 2012 impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
“Gusto ko lang ilabas lahat ‘yan [I just want to expose all of that],” Duterte told a handful of local reporters as he visited soldiers in Cagayan de Oro City, hitting back at critics anew who he said had misused public funds even while accusing him of wrongdoing. “Despite of a constitutional ruling na bawal ‘yang DAP [that DAP is not allowed], they continued to do it as if it was nobody’s business,” Duterte added.
“Pati yung sila Trillanes, ang DAP nila, ilabas ko… ilan ang DAP nila? Paano nila nagastos [People like Trillanes, how much was their DAP? How did they spend them]?” the President asked.
Duterte explained that he only wanted people to know how people like Trillanes spent people’s money while they projected themselves as clean, accusing Duterte of amassing millions in undeclared wealth.
The Ombudsman had recently penalized Abad for usurping congressional power over the purse but imposed what critics said was a mere slap on the wrist: the equivalent of six months’ salary when he was DBM chief. The Ombudsman, however, spared Aquino from any sanctions, sparking criticism as well.
