President Aquino challenged his critics on Monday (US time) to file charges against “dishonest people” around him.
This was his response to a question concerning criticisms that some
of his allies are corrupt raised during the Q&A session following
his speech at the John F. Kennedy School of Government in Harvard
University.
“Well, the courts are open. If they think that I have dishonest
people around me, then all they have to do is file an appropriate case,”
Aquino said.
“The Ombudsman in particular, I think, even investigates instances
where complaints are unsigned or anonymous precisely to ferret out those
who are not treading the correct path,” he added.
In the Philippines, United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) spokesman Rep.
Tobias “Toby” Tiangco of the lone district of Navotas City bared that 10
members of the ruling Liberal Party (LP) headed the list of recipients
of millions of pesos worth of funds released via the Disbursement
Acceleration Program (DAP).
The top 10 DAP recipients, according to Tiangco, are: former Rep.
Joseph Abaya, now the acting LP president (P408 million); Speaker
Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr. (P297.4 million); Majority Floor Leader
Neptali “Boyet” Gonzales II (P263 million); former Rep. Erineo “Ayong”
Maliksi (P217.8 million); former Rep. Florencio “Bem” Noel (P179.5
million); Deputy Speaker Henedina Abad (P176.6 million); former Rep.
Edgar San Luis (P160.2 million); former Rep. Tomas Osmeña (P124.1
million); former Rep. Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada (P120.5 million); and Rep.
Nelson Collantes (P110 million).
Tiangco said that the DAP list was based on uploaded information from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) website.
Meanwhile in his policy speech at Harvard University, President
Aquino blasted anew his predecessor, former President and now Pampanga
Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, whom he said “seemingly adopted” the late
dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ “handbook of how to abuse the democratic
process.”
Aquino even said that the “overwhelming ambition of so many” was to leave the country during Arroyo’s regime.
“At the end of her regime, our people were so apathetic to all the
scandals and issues affecting her, and government’s inability to effect
change, that the overwhelming ambition of so many was to leave the
country. Now, an estimated 10 million of our countrymen reside abroad,”
he said.
He also recalled Arroyo’s supposed attempt to protect herself from cases after her term.
“My predecessor, who put a premium on political survival, tried to
protect herself by appointing a Chief Justice to the Supreme Court,
despite a prohibition on appointing people to office when a presidency
is about to end,” he said, apparently referring to former Chief Justice
Renato Corona, who was convicted by the Senate impeachment court.
“Much as I opposed this, for the sake of harmony, I tried to make the
best of a sordid situation. It soon became clear, however, that the
Chief Justice considered himself accountable to no one, failing even to
meet the minimum standards of transparency outlined in our laws,” he
added.
Corona would be impeached later, he said, for misdeclaring his wealth.
Aquino said Corona’s case is just one example of accountability.
“My predecessor and three incumbent senators, to cite the most potent
examples, are now in detention as they undergo trial on the charge of
plunder,” he said, apparently referring to Arroyo, and Senators Juan
Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, and Ramon Revilla Jr.
Aquino also blasted Arroyo over the issue of classroom shortage.
“My predecessor, for instance, claimed that there was no shortage of
classrooms and what was the solution? They had three shifts that were
utilizing the same classroom,” the President said.
“The eight-hour a day became four-hour periods that some of our
youngsters were going home very late at night just to be able to say
that there was no classroom shortage,” he added.
In the same Q&A session, President Aquino was also asked on who
would he consider as a possible successor in “upholding honesty in
national government.”
“There are a lot of materials,” he said, pointing out that 2016 is not yet in his mind.
“As to naming who I think would be our successor, I really believe we
have a lot of materials in the country. But if I were to mention them
now, then I’m sure you can… You can imagine the repercussions back home
as media frenzy,” he said, eliciting laughter from the audience.
“And perhaps, as I keep saying, now is not the time. I still have
about a year and nine months to go. And if we are concentrated on… If we
are all concentrated just on the next elections rather than doing the
things that we have to do now, we shouldn’t allow the distraction of the
election to interfere with our obligations to our people,” he
explained.
He said that he’d rather attend to the needs of typhoon victims rather than the jockeying for position in 2016.
“When I left Manila there was a typhoon that was affecting our
[countrymen]. Mayon volcano is starting to be restive and there was a
second typhoon whilst I’m still not back home. So I think those have to
be attended rather than jockeying for position in 2016,” he said.
