(Eagle News) — The House appropriations committee on Tuesday, Jan. 29, approved a motion to issue a show-cause order against Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.
The show-cause order was due to Diokno’s failure to attend the Rep. Rolando Andaya-led panel hearings on alleged anomalies in the proposed national budget for 2019.
Diokno, without naming names, had said he was told not to attend the hearings, following what he said was the abrasive questioning of congressmen during a previously held Question Hour.
Andaya has alleged Diokno had links with a contractor that has allegedly cornered at least 30 government projects in the billions of pesos.
He said Diokno was also behind the P75-billion “insertion” in the proposed Department of Public Works and Highways budget, without the knowledge of Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, President Rodrigo Duterte and other congressmen.
Diokno said the P75 billion were mere “adjustments” that were part of the process.
Andaya made the allegations after Senator Panfilo Lacson revealed a district in Camarines Sur–Andaya’s district–and one in Pampanga–Speaker Gloria Arroyo’s–had cornered “congressional insertions” in the House-proposed national budget.
Both Andaya and Arroyo have denied the allegations.