In Japanese and Korean cultures, where the sense of honor and shame is strong, President Aquino would have resigned following the Supreme Court ruling on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) that he and his budget secretary, Florencio Abad, invented.
On Oct. 30, 2013, a defiant President Aquino defended the despicable DAP on national TV, “super-sure” and confident of its constitutionality: “The Disbursement Acceleration Program is not pork barrel… Spending through DAP is clearly allowed by the Constitution and by other laws. DAP is only a name for a process in which government can spend both savings and new and additional revenues… The issue here is theft. I did not steal” (Aquino stands firm on DAP, 10/30/13).
What is truly shameful is that billions of DAP funds were given to the 20 senators who voted for the conviction of Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012. Senate President and Liberal Party stalwart Franklin Drilon received the most. Drilon, of course, is a real heavyweight of the Senate and Liberal Party. Obscenely overpriced projects in his hometown of Iloilo are funded with his DAP funds, like the Iloilo Cicumferential Road.
The Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling declaring the DAP unconstitutional is a big blow to President Aquino. It was the second time that the tribunal rendered a decision against P-Noy; the first was on the Priority Development Assistance Fund in November 2013.
If I were P-Noy, I would resign. But that is only me—with my sense of honor and shame. I do not have his arrogance nor hypocrisy.
—R. B. RAMOS, rbrpilipinas@gmail.com