President set to address the nation as Abad takes full responsibility for DAP

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III is set to address the nation on “current issues” on Monday, July 14. He is expected to discuss the Supreme Court’s decision on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), a spending program that the government said is designed to stimulate economic growth by transferring unused funds from slow-disbursing projects to fast-disbursing ones. On July 1, the High Court declared 3 schemes of the program unconstitutional. Following the decision, Budget Secretary Butch Abad took full responsibility for his role in the program and offered to resign. Aquino rejected the offer, saying that accepting the resignation would be “tantamount to acknowledging wrongdoing on my end, contrary to the fact that the DAP… proved beneficial to the country’s economy.” In a Sunday briefing, Palace communications secretary Bobby Coloma denied allegations Abad controls the President. He also denied the President was hiding something that’s why he couldn’t let Abad go.

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Read Palace denial that Abad controls the President

Timeline for the the disbursement acceleration