Duterte says Aquino admin continued with DAP despite SC prohibition

April 2, 2017

President Rodrigo Duterte said on Sunday that his predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, continued with the Disbursement Acceleration Program despite the Supreme Court's ruling that it was unconstitutional.

Duterte made the statement as he accused the media of "hypocrisy" for only reporting the controversies against him and his administration.

"Why only the government? Why did you not dig deeper into (former Budget Secretary Florencio) Abad? How about PNoy (referring to Aquino)? Despite the constitutional ruling that there should no longer be DAP, they continued to do it as if it was nobody's business," he told reporters in Cagayan de Oro City.

The Supreme Court declared DAP, the previous government's scheme to pump-prime the economy, as unconstitutional in 2014.

Duterte said the media should also look into the DAP of opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. "How much did they receive, how much did they spend?," he said.

Trillanes has accused Duterte of having more than P200 million in a bank account, which he did not declare in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.

But Duterte said if it would be proven that at least he has half of that over P200 million or his children were involved in corruption, then he would immediately resign.

The President, meanwhile, again attacked the Prietos, the publisher of broadsheet Philippine Daily Inquirer.

He said the Prietos have a "son-in-law" who used to be in government and "almost every week, he's out of the country" using government's money.

Duterte, however, did not name the son-in-law. Celerina Monte/DMS