When a combative President Aquino addressed the nation Monday last week defending his Disbursement Accelerated Program or DAP which had been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, he made it appear that the projects funded by DAP were cases that bordered between life and death.
To underscore the purported urgent nature of the DAP projects, Aquino shared a text message he got: “On this note, allow me to share a text message I received in the last week. It reads: “The politicians are making fiesta regarding DAP; but to our simple non-legalistic mind, it is like a motorist who parked in a ‘no parking zone’ because he had to rush to save the life of an accident victim, which has more value. I’m praying hard that these people will see the good of the people rather than their own ambition.”
“To this I replied: I think the situation now is similar to what you mentioned, and it might be even worse. I am after all being arrested for parking in an area that up to now hasn’t yet been declared a no-parking zone. Is this reasonable?”
In response to public demand for an accounting of DAP funds, Malacañang released a list containing 116 projects totaling P167, 061,410,000.00. The list said amount released was P144, 378,303,000.
No. 15 of that list was LCOP (Lung Center of the Philippines) titled “Bio-Regenerative Technology Program.”
The description: “To fund the Bio-Regenerative Program aimed at harnessing stem cell research and technology to reconstruct new healthy cells, replacing cancer or dead cells.”
Reacting to that item, Philippine College of Physicians headed by Dr. Tony Leachon issued a statement expressing “ dismay and sadness over the priority funding of P70 million from the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) that went to stem-cell research when the money should have been spent for more urgent and vital healthcare needs. “
The PCP said, “Although, the stem cell treatment can be an innovative medicine, it is not urgent for the government to fund research or harness ways to expedite its practice…Stem cell therapy – an untested, expensive and experimental therapy and doing research on it – is not a national priority in all angles. P70 million DAP money can go a long way in helping many poor patients rather than on unproven therapy that will benefit only a few Filipinos?”
The PCP cited more urgent needs related to health: “The money could have been used for research on scientifically-proven treatment for fatal noncommunicable diseases , for the creation of a national workforce healthcare plan or for upgrading public hospitals like the Philippine General Hospital , PCMC , Fabella hospital , and other DOH or non DOH public hospitals for the poor. “
Not surprisingly, Lung Center Executive Director Jose Luis J. Danguilan defended the DAP money the hospital got.
Actually Lung Center got a total of P105 million. No. 14 item in the Malacañanng list is also for LCOP. It’s P35 million for Pediatric Pulmonary Program to “cover health care, equipment, supplies and materials needed for the hospital admission and confinement of children from three months to 18 years of age afflicted with lung diseases under the Pediatric Pulmonary Program.”
Danguilan said the P70 million money was used to purchase equipment and supplies for the LCP Molecular Diagnostics and Cellular Therapeutics Laboratory for research “mainly on dendritic cell vaccine for use in cancer treatment, specifically lung cancer.”
“To spend the money wisely, it was decided that pieces of equipment needed for the Bioregenerative Program and the Pediatric Unit could also be used by the Department of Pathology and Laboratory, the Department of Thoracic Surgery and Surgery, the Department of Pulmonary Medicine and the Department of Radiology,” he said.
Having spent the money properly is not the issue in the DAP but it’s unconstitutionality. P70 million for stem research and many more like the P143 million for Commission on Audit’s IT infrastructure program; P20 million for establishment of National Film Archives; P200 million for the transfer of Department of Tourism Office invalidate the emergency illegal parking justification of Aquino.
