Catholic bishops want to know where Aquino’s special fund went

Catholic bishops challenged the administration of President Benigno Aquino III to investigate the corrupt within its own ranks, and called on state auditors “to tell the nation where the DAP funds went.” DAP, or the Disbursement Acceleration Program, is an invention of the Aquino government through which it disregarded the budget law and went on to move funds from one agency to another and from one project to another without the consent of Congress. The program, whose funds were reportedly also used to bribe senators to impeach the Chief Justice in 2012, has some aspects recently declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said “a government that professes to tread the straight path” – apparently referring to Aquino’s slogan, “tuwid na daan” (straight path) – “must be willing to let go of the corrupt in its own ranks,” and not selectively prosecute opposition figures.

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