Opposition Senators Leila de Lima and Antonio Trillanes IV yesterday downplayed the threats of President Rodrigo Duterte that they would soon face charges in connection with the Disbursement Acceleration Program and blasted it as another lie.
In a statement, De Lima said Duterte’s accusation that she was involved in an alleged DAP anomaly is another “lie” from the President.
“The latest lie is about my alleged involvement in an alleged DAP anomaly, along with Sen. [Antonio] Trillanes. Wow! What kind of lies are Duterte and his evil lieutenants concocting this time?” she said.
De Lima said Duterte has previously lied about her links to the Bilibid drug trade, her supposed sex video, and about a US intel report supposedly proving her involvement in illegal drugs, “a claim so incredulous that it might as well just originated from the planet Mars.”
“These are all blatant lies, blurted out by Duterte himself, mostly in public events; lies parroted by his obnoxious underlings and gleefully swallowed, and at times applauded by his fanatical throngs,” De Lima said.
“And I need not remind about Duterte’s other ignominious remarks, almost unprintable words, attacking my womanhood, which shows the vileness or baseness of the man’s character. It’s clear, this President is not only a murderer but also a liar. A big, pathological liar! A real sicko,” she added.
In an interview over the government-run Channel 4, Duterte said Trillanes would face a DAP-related case while he said the same case will be filed against De Lima.
But Duterte did not explain how De Lima, who was justice secretary under the administration of Benigno Aquino III, was involved in DAP. De Lima is currently detained at the PNP Custodian Center over drug charges.
“Sauce for the gander, sauce for the goose. Walang yellow pa na naano ngayon except De Lima, but she has a case coming up also sa DAP. I could not believe really… Grabe itong babaeng ito. Talagang kapal sa kapal,” Duterte said.
He did not provide specifics.
On Trillanes, Duterte said the senator earned from schemes from DAP, implemented by the Aquino administration from 2011 to 2013
DAP was allegedly used to divert unused funds from slow-moving government projects, activities, or programs to quick-disbursing ones, supposedly to stimulate the country’s economy, following “sluggish” government spending in 2011.
But Trillanes claimed that the Commission on Audit cleared his projects involving DAP. He said the COA audit has “cleared everything.”
He added that all projects funded by PDAF or DAP and allocated by his office were published in his website.
He said the allegation is Duterte’s way to “distract” the public from the issue of the offshore bank accounts.
“It is meant to distract the public because he lost face in the foreign bank accounts issue)” Trillanes said.