Aquino’s DAP worse than PCSO scam Arroyo is accused of running, lawyer says

The release of billions of pesos under the Disbursement Acceleration Program approved by President Benigno Aquino III is worse than the questioned release of P366 million in confidential funds, for which former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is facing plunder charges, a lawyer for the incumbent Pampanga congresswoman said on Thursday.

In a news conference, lawyer Estelito Mendoza said he would not be surprised if, when his term ends in 2016, Aquino would be charged with plunder in connection with the fund releases under the DAP. The Supreme Court had declared portions of the DAP unconstitutional.

Mendoza is Arroyo's lead counsel in the plunder charges she's facing for her approval of the questioned release of P366 million in intelligence funds of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office during her administration.

"If the authorization by President Arroyo as president... constitutes already raiding the treasury and constitutes already the crime of plunder, how would you characterize the authorization by Budget Secretary (Florencio) Abad in releasing DAP funds with the consent of President Aquino?" asked Mendoza.

"Would that not be equally a raid on the treasury? Would that not be equally applying the same standard on plunder?" he added.

Mendoza said that unlike the DAP, the use of the PCSO funds had not been invalidated by the high tribunal.

"I am saying it (DAP) is a worse case because the SC has already ruled that DAP is already unconstitutional," said Mendoza.

"(Meanwhile), there is no SC finding that the release by President Arroyo of the confidential funds is illegal. It is authorized by [Letter of Intent] which under our constitution continues to be valid and effective," he added.

Mendoza said the Aquino administration has a lot to worry about if a mere authorization of anomalous fund release could amount to plunder, citing the DAP.

The DAP was an economic stimulus that provided for, among others, the release of slow-moving allocations in one budget item to another. Questioned before the Supreme Court, some of its provisions were struck down as unconstitutional.

While the DAP is widely believed to be the brainchild of Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, the program was implemented with Aquino's consent.

Mendoza again criticized the wrongful and continued hospital detention of the former chief executive, over the PCSO fund mess.

He said Arroyo's continued hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center was already a form of punishment.

Mendoza reiterated the Arroyo camp's position that it was the PCSO Board, and not the former president, that authorized the disbursement of the fund. However, he pointed out that the board members implicated in the mess had already been acquitted.

The lawyer insisted that Arroyo merely authorized the release of the controversial PCSO intelligence fund and never "got hold of, touched, or smelled" a single centavo of the amount.

The plunder trial of Arroyo is currently suspended after the high tribunal last October 20 issued a 30-day status quo ante order, in response to her petition contesting the charges and insisting her right to post bail for the non-bailable offense. -NB, GMA News