#DAP I suppose what is wrong is that the President is given a great deal of power and have traditionally used it with considerable discretion. What happened in 2010 and 2011 is that the Aquino Administration curtailed a lot of spending because they did not trust where it was going. Until they knew the money was going to legitimate uses, they were not going to spend it. No one complained that this was a constitutional violation too. The complains during that time was the sharp slow down of growth. Indeed, most agreed this was a prudent approach. So the money piled up, and, in the interest of ramping up the economy, and not wanting to go back to Congress to re-align expenditures, they started applying the funds (labelled as DAP) to uses they did have confidence in, including legislative initiatives. Power and favor are a part of this. It is the currency in which Philippine politics is played. So what is wrong is that the Administration tried too hard to clean up the whole government, tried too hard to do the right thing, and played politics the way it is played in the Philippines. They were not outright crooks, but the outright crooks screamed that they were, and so the matter was enlarged to the emotional heights people enjoy. The big failure for me is that there has been no clear delineation of the DAP expenditures showing intended (budgeted) use and actual use. I will listen to the President’s speech tonight with great interest. I don’t have a problem with criticism of presidential discretion, just as I criticize his NOT BACKING the FOI BILL. I do have a problem with figuring out how to get the country moving forthrightly and honestly without that executive discretion. And my point on this issue of DAP is, I trust the President more than I trust the critics... A CEO (the President) is always given considerable latitude by the Board of Directors (Senate & Congress) to get things done - until he fails - Thats how id like the Philippine Government should work. President Aquino for sure is not failing. As a shareholder in the Philippine corporation, I don’t want him to step back and become ineffectual. The best thing the President can do, is to enlighten people who did not fully understood the DAP issue and to be transparent about the expenditures up to the last peso. They better do it while they still have time...
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 06:27:17 +0000
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