Diokno: DPWH budget augmented by P75B with Duterte’s nod

The additional allocations to the Department of Public Works and Highways in the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019 reached P75 billion, several billions more than the P51 billion in insertions initially discovered and reported.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said President Rodrigo Duterte knew about the "augmentation."

Diokno so disclosed on Tuesday during the Question Hour at the House of Representatives while being questioned by Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr., who grilled him about the P51-billion worth of insertions.

Andaya, the budget secretary of former President and now Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, said he had talked to Duterte about the supposed P51 billion insertions, who told him he had "nothing to do with."

Andaya said DPWH Secretary Mark Villar likewise did not know about the supposed insertions.

"If the public works didn't ask for it, and DBM (Department of Budget and Management) submitted that presidential budget to us, then it only came from you," Andaya told Diokno.

Diokno, in response, explained that for 2019 the DPWH proposed a total of P652 billion to the DBM, which approved on the first tranche P123.9 billion and P356 billion on the second tranche, for a total of P480.2 billion.

"Now because we want the infrastructure budget to be higher, and we have fiscal space, we decided to augment to the P480 billion another P75 billion. Not P51 billion. But P75 billion, for a total of P555 billion," Diokno said.

This statement from Diokno surprised Andaya, who only knew of the P51 billion "insertions."

Diokno, however, said these cannot be called "insertions" as they are part of the budget process.

The budget secretary has also insisted that the President knew about the projects released for the DPWH, which Andaya questioned.

"I think he knows about it," Diokno said.

"So he (the President) is lying to me. He's a liar?" Andaya asked Diokno.

But before Diokno could even respond, Andaya spoke anew and said, "So this whole tete-a-tete we're having, it's clear now the insertion is not P51 but P75 billion. Thank you very much for admitting it."

"P75 billion that the public works does not have an idea where it came from. I think your silence means yes," he added.

The House of Representatives has earlier realigned more than P50 billion from the DPWH to fund projects and programs for other government agencies.

It is not immediately clear whether this amount is the same as the supposed P51-billion "insertions" in the DPWH that Andaya was talking about.

The proposed 2019 budget is still deliberated by senators, who earlier raised the possibility of having a reenacted budget at least until January next year.—LDF/NB, GMA News