Diokno: Andaya’s allegations vs me merely “illusory”

“Of the P652 billion budget proposal of the DPWH in 2019, P132.5 billion was for flood control projects (including foreign-assisted projects). In the 2019 National Expenditure Program, flood control projects by the DPWH totaled P114.3 billion (including foreign-assisted projects), well below its initial funding request for flood control structures,” Diokno said.

According to Diokno, the DBM is also “not privy to the breakdown of DPWH projects per district.”

He said it was the  DPWH, as an implementing agency, that “determines the specific project listing for the projects under each program and region.”

“The original budget proposal of the DPWH was P652 billion, not P488 billion as Congressman Andaya claimed in the Question Hour last Dec. 11, 2018. The DBM then initially approved P480.2 billion out of the P652 billion budget request of the DPWH. But in the final phase of budget preparation, the total public infrastructure budget was still short of the government’s commitment to disburse at least 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for infrastructure. This is why the budget of the DPWH was adjusted by P75.5 billion,” he said.

“Hence, in the 2019 National Expenditure Program, the total budget for the DPWH is P555.7 billion. This was presented and approved by the Cabinet in a meeting on July 9, 2018,” he added.

In the House committee on rules first hearing on alleged anomalies in the proposed national budget for 2019, Andaya accused Diokno of having a hand in  CT Leoncio Construction Corp., an alleged dummy firm employed by Aremar Construction Corp. owned by the in-laws of Diokno’s daughter, cornering government projects in Sorsogon.

Andaya hurled the allegations against Diokno  after Senator Panfilo Lacson said Camarines Sur, Andaya’s province, and a district in Pampanga, Speaker Gloria Arroyo’s, cornered “congressional insertions” in the House-proposed national budget for 2019.