The list of projects funded by the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) released by the government confirms its nature as presidential pork barrel, said research group IBON. A scrutiny of the list also confirms that the DAP-funded projects did not benefit the economy. Pres. Benigno Aquino dispensed these billions of pesos to legislators, agencies, local government units and beneficiaries at his discretion, for purposes that he defined unilaterally, and with only a semblance of legality. All these make the controversial DAP consistent with being pork barrel while not directly resulting in broad benefits to Filipinos, the group said. Pres. Aquino has admitted impatience with the prescribed budget process and short-cutting this to supposedly be able to deliver services more efficiently and immediately to the people. The profile of the projects funded by DAP do not fit with either delivering services to the people or stimulating the economy. The case of the DAP illustrates how the abuse of presidential powers and discretion makes hundreds of billions of pesos in public funds vulnerable to use for patronage and partisan politics and, at worst, corruption.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 04:07:32 +0000
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