House OKs reso urging Duterte to reconsider appointment of Diokno as DBM chief

The House of Representatives on Wednesday adopted a resolution urging the Office of the President to reconsider the appointment of Benjamin Diokno as Budget Secretary.

House Resolution 2365, authored by Minority Leader Danilo Suarez, was adopted a day after Diokno attended the Question Hour at the House of Representatives to answer queries from the lawmakers related to the 2019 proposed national budget.

House adopts resolution urging the Office of the President to reconsider the appointment of Budget Sec. Benjamin Diokno based on findings during Question Hour. @gmanews pic.twitter.com/31HC5yHvMi

— Erwin Colcol (@erwincolcol) December 12, 2018

The move to reconsider Diokno's appointment was based on the findings of the Question Hour.

According to the resolution, the issue on the augmentation in the proposed budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways for 2019 without the knowledge and consent of Secretary Mark Villar "remains unsolved."

During the Question Hour, Diokno said the DPWH budget was augmented by P75 billion, not P51 billion as was previously known.

Majority Leader Rolando Andaya claimed that Villar had no knowledge of these "insertions," while President Rodrigo Duterte has "nothing to do with it."

"Such insertion, if proven, is illegal and ultra vires for it bypassed the authority of the President, through its line agencies, to submit its proposed budget for 2019," the resolution read.

At the same time, the resolution also stated that Diokno was not able to explain how CT Leoncio Construction and Trading, a company that supposedly bagged billions of pesos in contracts across the Philippines, also obtained projects in Sorsogon province, where his daughter's parents-in-law are running in the 2019 polls.

"Be it resolved... that the House of Representatives urge His Excellency Rodrigo Roa Duterte, to reconsider the appointment of Hon. Benjamin Diokno as Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management," the resolution read.

Suarez, in a press conference earlier in the day, said Diokno should step down from his post as an act of delicadeza.

But Diokno, in response, said resignation is what the lawmakers really want him to do.

"I serve at the pleasure of the President. I was chosen by three Presidents as Budget deputy minister, then as Secretary," Diokno said in a message to reporters.

"That speaks volumes of their trust and confidence in my integrity, honesty and competence. I doubt if you can say the same of those who want me to resign," he added. — BM, GMA News