MANILA - Saying he was responding to his challenge, Atty. Oliver Lozano filed an impeachment case against President Benigno Aquino III at the Office of the Ombudsman on Thursday.In his 3-page letter complaint, Lozano said Aquino is guilty of culpable violation of the constitution for appropriating P72 billion in savings of different government agencies for the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) without the approval of Congress.
Lozano explained that he was filing the impeachment for "proper resolution of the subject controversy in a fair trial in lieu of prejudgment."
The President on Wednesday reiterated that the release of funds under the disbursement acceleration program (DAP) is legal and challenged critics to impeach him over its alleged misuse.
"Isulong nila kung palagay nilang nasa tama sila. Pero kakabasa ko lang sa Constitution, merong authority sa savings to put to other uses basta nandoon sa ating budget," Aquino told reporters when asked for his reaction to reported statements of former Senator Joker Arroyo and Senator Miriam Santiago that DAP is illegal. Aquino also denied using the DAP as a means to bribe or reward senators for voting to convict former Chief Justice Renato Corona. He pointed out that Corona was convicted in May 2012 while funds under the DAP were not released until October.
"So meron bang bribe after the fact?" he said.
Aquino said that the DAP was meant to spur public spending amid observations that the government was not spending much.
He also took exception to his being called as "pork barrel king" by critics. He said that his administration has been careful in using public funds adding that the budget has been enacted on time to minimize room for corruption. He said that he has abolished priority development assistance fund (PDAF) system and has been using the Malampaya funds strictly for energy-related projects.
source: Challenge accepted: Lozano files impeach rap vs PNoy | ABS-CBN News