MANILA, Philippines – He’d like to call it the Hair Challenge. Opposition leader Toby Tiangco challenged Senate President Franklin Drilon to get a funky haircut like his if it is proven that he got the funds he had denied receiving.
Tiangco, secretary general of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), made the challenge on Wednesday, September 3, a day after Drilon denied receiving nearly P1 billion from the the administration’s controversial spending program, which the Supreme Court had declared partially unconstitutional.
Drilon on Tuesday reacted to Tiangco’s accusation that he, an official of the President’s Liberal Party, had gotten a huge chunk from the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
The Senate President had insisted his office only got P100 million from the program that declared savings and moved them around from departments without going through Congress.
What is DAP?
It’s the government’s special spending program. Funds for slow-moving projects were realigned to fast-moving ones. The Aquino administration claims it was used to boost the government’s spending.
The DAP first came under scrutiny when Senator Jinggoy Estrada, accused of plunder in the PDAF scam, brought it up during a privilege speech. Since then, three schemes under DAP have been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
The government, however, has since filed a motion asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its unanimous decision on the program.
“As he already did the ice-bucket challenge, I again dare Senator Drilon to do another round of our ‘hairstyle challenge.’ I’m willing to do a makeover if records would show that indeed he did not receive close to a total of P1 billion DAP,” said Tiangco in a statement.
“But I challenge him to go all mohawk if the records show otherwise,” he added.
The Senate president called it the amount quoted by Tiangco as “blatant lie” and “pure speculations.”
“I would like to caution that we should not give credence to these speculations as it does not help our already toxic political environment,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
But Tiangco insisted Drilon should not dismiss the issue outright.
“He should answer the issue on DAP directly because that is what the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) records apparently show. May mga pinagpala talagang mga mambabatas kaysa sa iba, at batay sa DBM, kasama dyan si Sen. Drilon,” Tiangco added.
(Some lawmakers are luckier than others. Based on DBM records, Senator Drilon is among the lucky few.)
The ‘lucky’ ones
The UNA secretary general said LP members were getting “bigger and juicier slices of the DAP compared to other lawmakers.”
Tiangco requested from Budget Secretary Florencio Abad a detailed report on which members of Congress received funding through the DAP.
Tiangco said based on the records, Drilon received more than the P100 million he said was sourced from DAP.
Another lawmaker, Abakada Representative Jonathan de la Cruz, said Drilon received P450 million for the Jalaur River Multi-Purpose Project in Iloilo, another P150 million for the Iloilo River Development Program and P100 million for Iloilo Convention Center. All of the funds were allegedly sourced through DAP.
Tiangco also challenged Drilon to compel Abad, also an LP stalwart, to release any and all information about funds sourced through DAP and released through lawmakers. – Bea Cupin/Rappler.com
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