Palace: PNoy still trust Abad

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda. Screenshot from May 14 press briefing.

MANILA – Despite the controversial court ruling against the constitutionality of certain acts in the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) which lead to calls for the budget secretary’s resignation, Malacañang said President Aquino still trust Budget Secretary Florencio Abad.

Malacañang also defended the officials involved in DAP saying, the program meant no harm intentions.

Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing that there was no need for officials to resign because the program “was meant to accelerate projects that would benefit the country.”

“When you speak of unconstitutionality, it does not immediately equate to wrongdoing,” he said.

Lacierda also cited several court rulings declaring certain government initiatives in the past to be unconstitutional adding that such ruling did not spark any calls for resignation among the officials involved.

He cited the “Truth Commission” and the “Reproductive Health Law, as examples of government initiatives declared unconstitutional but not illegal.

“You seem to equate unconstitutionality with criminality. Those are two different things,” he said.

“When you speak of criminal, you speak of specific acts, which the Criminal Code has deemed as criminal acts.

There are defined laws which prescribe specific crimes and those crimes are clearly defined under the Criminal Code,” Lacierda explained.

“When you speak of wrongdoing, that’s another matter,” he added.