Press Release
October 7, 2013

STATEMENT OF SENATE PRESIDENT FRANKLIN M. DRILON

ON THE PETITION FILED BY AUGUSTO SYJUCO JR. AGAINST HIM
AND BUDGET SECRETARY FLORENCIO ABAD OVER THE IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE DISBURSEMENT ACCELERATION PLAN (DAP)

"I will answer in due time the petition filed before the Supreme Court against me and Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad by my discredited and political rival, former Rep. Augusto Syjuco Jr., over the creation and implementation of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP)."

"I suspect that my inclusion in the petition is but part of a highly-financed black propaganda by Syjuco and his cohorts to discredit me. The petition is more political and personal rather than legal."

"This is an attempt to make the Supreme Court a venue for political mudslinging."

"In this petition, Syjuco obviously manipulated facts to suit his ill intention and that is to besmirch my reputation. He twisted facts as he has done in the previous cases he filed against me before the Ombudsman, and he will never stop implicating my name in corruption and malfeasance until he fulfills his obligation to his bosses financing him to put me in a bad light."

"This is a clear effort by Syjuco and his camp to muddle the issue on the DAP funds and to digress public attention from the issue on corruption involving the use of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF)."

"Syjuco betrays his ignorance of the issues involved in the DAP when he claimed that I am the 'promoter as then Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, on the use and disbursements from the fictional Development Acceleration Program (DAP) of the amount P1,010,500,000.00.'"

"Syjuco is again wrong and misinformed. The DAP allocation is not cold cash and but was merely a list of infrastructure projects recommended by legislators and local government officials to be implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways."

"Contrary to the insinuations being spread by my detractors, the P100 million I requested under the DAP in December 2012 was not misused and misallocated. I utilized it to fund infrastructure projects in Iloilo City which was eyeing to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ministerial meeting in 2015."

"I can account for every peso that was allocated for these projects and I do not have a history of malfeasance and misuse of government funds. I am sure that that not a single centavo was channeled to bogus non-government organizations linked to Janet Lim-Napoles."

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