President Benigno Aquino III made the right decision in defending and explaining to the people  his use of discretionary funds through the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) , the vice president of the National Unity Party said.

Dasmarinas City Representative Elpidio Barzaga Jr., the NUP vice president for external affairs, also advised critics of the President’s use of the DAP to just defend their position in court instead of demonizing the Aquino administration.

The President defended his administration’s use of budgetary savings via the DAP in a nationally televised broadcast last October 30. He said the DAP is constitutional and has been effectively used as an instrument to stimulate economic growth. 

His critics, however, have maintained that the DAP is illegal and unconstitutional.

“I think PNoy’s critics should just focus on defending themselves in court instead of exerting too much effort on demonizing the administration by making it appear that they are all the same,” Barzaga said.

Unlike his critics, President Aquino has not been involved in any corruption scandal, which has allowed him to maintain his moral ascendancy on the issues involving the DAP and the alleged misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), Barzaga noted.

The NUP leader said the President did the right thing in explaining the importance of the DAP and defending it from allegations of misuse. 

 “The public has to know that they are being deceived into believing that funds from the DAP are being misused like the pork barrel of some legislators,” Barzaga said.

Barzaga added that the public had long wanted to hear the President’s explanations following the barrage of attacks from his critics about the DAP, which Malacanang said involved funds sourced from savings generated by the government as well as  unprogrammed appropriations, unexpected remittances of dividends from government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs),  government financial institutions (GFIs), and sale of government assets.

“PNoy’s speech was a testament to his fight against graft and corruption throughout his term which is the cornerstone of his Presidency,” Barzaga said.