Bam Aquino also wants Abad’s explanation on DAP

The Liberal Party's youngest senator also wants party elder Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to shed light on how billions of pesos in public funds were spent after they released under the Disbursement Acceleration Program.

Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, the President's cousin and namesake, added that lawmakers who would be found to have misused the DAP funds should also be prosecuted and detained.

“Ako, hinihintay ko rin ang paliwanag kung saan napunta ang pera but again wala naman  sigurong pwedeng maitago sa ating lipunan lalabas at lalabas talaga iyan," Aquino told reporters Wednesday.

"If there are legislators who did use the DAP for their own personal gains, kung naibulsa nila ang perang yan gaya ng  nangyari sa PDAF, kailangang makulong din sila,” he added.

Abad has yet to make a public explanation as regards the DAP and how billions of pesos worth of allocations were spent after the Supreme Court declared portions of the program unconstitutional.

Malacanang on Tuesday said the budget secretary was too busy to answer questions on the DAP since aside from his performing his usual function as budget chief, he was also part of the team studying the government’s legal options on the constitutionality of the program.

Aquino, however, believe that the DAP fund went to good programs even if Abad has yet to explain.

“Kung tutuusin nagawa yung DAP dahil gusto natin tulungan yung bansa. In fact, you can see that majority of this (DAP), 91 percent napunta sa kinakailangang daan, tulay, tulong sa nasalanta ng delubyo," Aquino said.

"This actually went to good program but, as SC said, technically mali itong paggamit ng perang yan so itigil na yan,” he added.

The senator said there were no allegations that Abad pocketed DAP funds.

“There were no allegations na ang kanilang ginawa ay napunta sa isa or dalawang tao lamang. In fact, if you read a lot of the economists are saying the reason for high economic growth was because gumasta nang marami ang government. Ano ba yun, gasta, disbursement;  ng mas marami, acceleration,” Aquino said.

He said lawmakers who received the DAP fund should account how they used the money.

“Come out with it. You know whether the Senate itself or the senators themselves, kailangan ilabas talaga kung saan nagamit ang pera in the same way sa PDAF ganun din. If there are funds na ibinigay sa isang legislator, paano ito nagamit or saan ito napunta. They are accountable kung saan ito napunta,” Abad said.

On Wednesday, Senator Sergio Osmena III also released documents, including Special Allotment Release Orders, showing the projects funded by DAP.

Among those were the repair, rehabilitation and improvement of local roads, highways and bridges in Regions 7, 8, and 10.

Senator Pia Cayetano on Tuesday afternoon said she was not aware that the source of funding used for the P50 million worth of projects she submitted in 2012 was DAP.

She said she just received a letter from then Senate finance committee chairman Drilon asking her to submit amendments to the proposed General Appropriations Act which she did.

“I even never heard that term (DAP) before kasi nga the letter says amendments. Ang alam namin dito these are projects that by way of amending the existing budget, sinasubmmit talaga namin,” she said.

Among the 14 projects she submitted were the rehabilitation of ULTRA track oval, P10 million; rehabilitation of University of the Philippines track oval, P12 million; renovation and rehabilitation of Philippine Children Medical Center to develop a cancer ward, P3 million; and construction of school buildings and classrooms and water systems.

By AMITA O. LEGASPI, GMA News