Budget Secretary Florencio Abad Jr. defended anew on Sunday the Aquino administration’s Disbursement Acceleration Program, insisting that the measure was crafted in good faith.
Abad, who is now facing an Ombudsman investigation together with President Benigno Aquino III and others over the DAP, clarified that only certain provisions in the program were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
“DAP itself was not declared unconstitutional. In fact, it was even praised as having been able to address the serious underspending at that time,” Abad said in an interview over ANC’s Inside Business.
“DAP was identified with PDAF [Priority Development Assistance Fund, or pork barrel], which I think is unfair. Certainly it was [spun],” Abad also said.
Abad said that they had problems trying to explain to the public that DAP is not the same as PDAF, because of public outrage.
“People always tend to suspect government. People always suspect politicians. And so, if there is something seriously wrong with government, it must be true,” Abad said.
Abad, who is one of the ruling Liberal Party’s top officials, said he is prepared for the possibility of confronting the DAP issue in courts in case the ruling party fails to win the presidency in the 2016 polls.
“That can happen. But at the end of the day, my conscience, the President’s conscience, is clean. And so if we become the victims of political harassment as a result, well, that’s how it is,” Abad said.
Abad said the controversy over DAP was brought about as a “consequence of certain interests being pushed aside” when implementing reforms within the government.
“Change is a risky business. When you begin to reform certain ways of doing things, there is resistance always [not only] from the bureaucracy, but also from those who benefit from the old ways of doing things,” he said.
Abad also accused media for allegedly fueling “misconceptions” on DAP following the high court’s ruling.
“I was surprised that the media was headlining that DAP was unconstitutional, which is not the case,” Abad said.
Abad also said the Aquino administration’s reforms and programs should continue beyond 2016.
“What should be re-elected is Daang Matuwid, the system of governance that has brought to where we are at this point,” Abad said.