DAPat or hindi DAPat?

PNoy and his followers sorely misses the point regarding all the fuss about his DAP. Putting all those “savings” in the hands of one man and leaving it to his discretion on how to spend it is a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Let us assume, just for the sake of argument, that the sitting president is so benevolent and straight that the DAP will indeed be used correctly and transparently. Then, as PNoy and his cohorts will argue, the public has no reason to complain, right? Instead of pelting him with criticisms we should be showering him with praises and singing allelujah!

Nothing can be farther from the truth. Last time I checked, we were in a democracy, with all its checks and balance mechanisms, to ensure that no single branch of government act with impunity over the other two. No matter how righteous the sitting president may be, that does not give him carte blanche to do anything he wants. If that is what he wants, he might as well change our system of government from democracy to a dictatorship, which is how he wants to act, or probably even a monarchy, seeing how he is being touted as a “King.”

Good intentions aside, by giving legitimacy to a flawed system as DAP, a dangerous precedent will be set. Again going back to the premise that PNoy is righteous and will not abuse his DAP, what would then happen when he steps down and is succeeded by Presidents with less noble intent and character? Imagine if an Arroyo-clone is elected to the presidency. That president will be able to wield his own interpretation of the DAP to suit his own needs, and there is nothing we can do, because PNoy has legitimized the practice of DAP.

His continued defense of his flawed DAP concept betrays an overabundance of short-sightedness on his part. I think he he more concerned about his legacy and how history books will view him after he is gone, rather than the consequences of DAP on future generations. Like most politicians born from privileged families, he knows that even if the country goes down the drain, he and his kind will survive, whatever the political weather. Sadly, a hundred million Filipinos do not have that option.