Panel to urge Diokno to appear for inquiry over budget mess

The House of Representatives’ appropriations panel will subpoena Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno for failing to show up in the public inquiry on the budget mess for the fifth time.“(There) are matters that have to be explained, particularly by the Budget secretary. I therefore move that a subpoena be issued for him to appear at the next hearing,” said Leyte 3rd District Rep. Vicente Veloso yesterday.Appropriations Committee chairman carried Veloso’s motion as deliberations resumed on the anomalous “insertions” by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) into the 2019 budget.“I don’t know where (Diokno) gets that thick facial facade,” Andaya said, reiterating that he will continue to expose the budget irregularities under Diokno even after he “chose silence over transparency.”The panel previously agreed to issue a show-cause order against Diokno for his consecutive absences in the public inquiries of the House.Around P370bn worth of budgetary savings for 2017 alone was uncovered under the DBM.The committee also previously said that it would file charges of technical malversation against the Budget secretary after it uncovered last week P50bn worth of idle funds under the DBM and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) because of Diokno’s alleged revisions on the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Republic Act (RA) 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.Since December’s Question Hour, Diokno has been grilled for his alleged involvement in the P75bn insertion to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to favour a private construction firm owned by his in-laws.About P198bn worth of government contracts were also reportedly procured by the DBM in 2018 for big-ticket infrastructure projects.