House no longer interested to force Diokno to attend budget inquiry —Andaya

The House of Representatives is no longer interested in pushing Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno to attend its inquiry into the supposed anomalies in the 2019 national budget, House Committee on Appropriations chair Rolando Andaya Jr. said on Sunday.

The appropriations panel was supposed to cite Diokno in contempt for repeatedly skipping their inquiry, but Andaya did not push through with it.

"'Yung ginagawa ni Secretary Diokno, pinapahaba niya lang nang pinapahaba 'yung proceeding. Sigurado ako kung sisipot man 'yan, magdadrama lang 'yan, wala ring ibibigay na imbestigasyon," Andaya said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview.

"Sa susunod na hearing, hindi na naman sisipot. Pahihintayin niya lang na matapos ang sesyon na ito, kaya hindi na kami sa kanya interesado," he added.

Instead, the Committee on Public Account will initiate a case against Diokno for conflict of interest in relation to the P81 million that the construction firm of his in-laws allegedly got as payment of front or dummy corporations for government infrastructure projects, Andaya said.

"'Yung kaso ng kompanya na kung saan ang anak niya ang involved at kumita sila ng P81 million, kasado na 'yun, kumpleto na 'yun, hinog na 'yun sa isang kaso. Ifa-file na lang namin 'yung kaso at doon na lang siya sa piskalya o sa Ombudsman magpaliwanag," Andaya said.

"Conflict of interest 'yan. Kaso 'yan dahil nakialam at nakinabang sa kontrata ang mga anak ng isang opisyal," he added.

Apart from this, Andaya has also lambasted Diokno over the P75-billion "insertion" that the Department of Budget and Management made to the budget for the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Andaya said that according to their investigation, it was Budget Undersecretary Mina Pangandaman who instructed personnel from the DPWH to insert a list of projects to the DBM's format.

All these happened without the knowledge of Public Works Secretary Mark Villar.

"Isa lang ang napag-utusan ng undersecretary sa DBM na USec. Pangandaman ang pangalan na nagbigay sa kanya ng listahan para ipasok sa format ng DBM," Andaya said.

"'Yun lang ngayon ang inaamin ng dalawang departamento. Lumalabas na may dalawang fixer lang na nag-uusap at nangyari, pumasok talaga doon sa libro na sinasabi ni Secretary Villar na walang kaalam-alam," he added.

Andaya earlier said their investigation into the supposed anomalies in the 2019 national budget would continue even as Congress is on a break and despite the ratification of this year's appropriations. —Erwin Colcol/KG, GMA News