DBM chief Diokno, House Majority Leader Andaya at loggerheads over proposed 2019 budget

The House of Representatives and the Department of Budget and Management are at loggerheads over the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019, a dispute that boiled down to a clash over taxpayers’ money between House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. and Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

The proposed budget’s tough road to approval started on July 23, 2018, the day former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez was replaced by former President Gloria Arroyo in a stunning “coup de etat,” the same day when President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his third State of the Nation Address. It was also on that day when the Executive Department submitted its proposed budget to Congress.

Arroyo’s ascension to the House speakership meant Diokno would have to work with a new House Majority Leader in the person of Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya, who served as Budget chief when Arroyo was President.

While the House has placed Diokno on the defense, the 2019 budget remains pending, including the funding required for the fourth tranche of the Salary Standardization Law covering government employees.

The proposed 2019 budget  is expected to be approved before January 2019 ends. —With Jannielyn Ann Bigtas/VDS, GMA News