Manila: A fifth impeachment complaint was filed by militant youth groups against President Benigno Aquino whom they called a “monster” and a “tyrannical ruler” for controlling the savings of line agencies to support the executive level’s non-discretionary spending, including support for allies in the legislative department.
“Aquino has turned into the monster he swore to slay: A tyrannical ruler who transformed the gargantuan amount of over 150 billion pesos (Dh 12.50 billion) of Congress-appropriated public funds into his own pork barrel,” said the Youth ACT Now and the League of Filipino students (LFS) in a complaint filed at the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
Aquino “arrogantly refuses to recognize, respect and obey the valid order of the Supreme Court that has found his pork barrel,” said the two groups that also called for the abrogation of the Disbursement Acceleration Programme (DAP) that Aquino created with an executive order in 2011, a year after he became president.
Congressman Terry Ridon of Youth, a sectoral party at the House of the Representatives endorsed the impeachment complaint.
Aquino has been criticized for promoting patronage politics by extending additional funds to senators and congressmen in late 2012 even if they have their own respective Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
At the time, money from DAP was used to augment government spending through the senators and congressmen, but critics said the additional funds given to senators and congressmen were belated incentives for those who voted to impeach former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona in mid 2012.
What the president did could be easily defined as technical plunder or bribery because DAP funds must be used only for the spending of the executive level and not of the legislative level, legal experts explained.
He also allowed himself to undertake the job of controlling government expenditure, which is the role of Congress.
Critics said that Aquino should not depend on his control of the two houses of Congress because the people’s reaction against corruption in government would “snowball soon and this could not be disregarded by senators and congressmen..
But other critics said the lawmakers could not impeach a president if they themselves have been accused of alleged misuse of their own development funds by approving release of funds to ghost projects and ghost implementers to enrich themselves.
Meanwhile, various groups have formed a coalition in preparation for a major protest rally against Aquino when he will give his State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the House of Representatives on July 28.
“We have a 12-foot effigy of President Aquino which will be burned on that day,” said Albert Cunanan, a student activist.
“We have a new strategy in holding our protest rallies. They will be done simultaneously on many fronts,” said Cunanan. He did not give more details.
Aquino campaigned against corruption when he ran for the presidency in 2010.
His net approval rating at positive 45 in June, has started to show signs of more decline, said the Social Weather Station, a private pollster.
