Let us educate ourselves: To paraphrase, the DAP issue is about the executive exceeding the bounds of its power; the PDAF issue is about private individuals and public officials stealing the people’s money. It is a question of constitutionality vs. criminality. This distinction must be made clear, Medalla asserts, lest the former issue be used to unduly muddle the latter and deflect attention from the need to identify and punish the plunderers. There has indeed been a tendency in recent public discussions to seemingly take both in the same light. To be sure, there is a bit of interface between the two, with suspicions that some DAP funds had gone the way of the PDAF scam’s modus operandi—that is, via fictitious projects by bogus nongovernment organizations. But the DAP came about to address a clear and urgent need, and for the most part, yielded the desired effects on the economy as a whole.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 10:46:41 +0000