Nlalagla
Business Insght
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Andaya blinks, says House
to drop probe on Diokno
BY RAY OND AFRICA
and WE DE]l. VIGIUA
REP Rolando Andaya yesterday
backed dovrn from lis staunch
position to dig deeper into alleged
anomalous budget practices of
outgoing Budget Secretary Ben
jamin Diokno and said the House
of Representatives will oo longer
pursue its irrquirl' on the P75 bil-
lion insertion for infrastructure
projects allegedly facilitated by the
\ Tpnlr FAqc'/
c1)
budget chief
Andaya, who is t}te chairman
of the House committee on ap-
propriations, made the statement
a day after Diokno vzs appointed
by President Duterte as governor
of the Bangko Sental ng Pilipinas.
"I don't think now is th€ time (to
continue investigating)," Andaya
said when asked why the House
will stop the probe, but added
a committee report may still be
drafted based on data gathered in
eadier investigations.
Andaya's annoulcement, how-
eve!'i;as cootrary to the statement
of Rep. Danilo Suarez, chairman
of the House committee on public
accounts, who said on Tuesday
that his panel wi.ll continue its i.n,
vestigation on Diokno's allegedly
anomalous acts as budget secretary.
The Suarez panel last month
took ovet the investigation on
Dioknot P75-bilion inserticins in
the 2019 nationat budget, which
wete exposed bY AndaYa during the
House plenary deliberations on the
proposed appropriations measure
Lawmakers had Planned on
inviting Dioknoi Chief of Staff,
Budget UndesectetarY Amenah
Pangandaman, and Engr' Glenn
Deqal, a technical exPert assigned
at ihe programming division of
the Deparmrent of Public $florks
and Highvays @PWlf - Planning
Service, to shed [ght on the suP-
oosed insertion.
Andava had beeo accusing Dio-
kno of'conflict of intetest for
allegedly giving undue advantage
to Ate mar Consuuction, owned
bv the famity of the in-laws of his
daughter Charlotte, in the annual
allocation of funds, particulatly for
f ood-control ptojects.
Diokno reportedlY allocated
of pesos - worth of Proi-
billions
ects for Sorsogon because his
daughter Charlotte is married to
Romeo 'Jojo" Sikat, Jr'. the son
of Sorsogon Vice Governot Ester
Hamor with her Previous Paltne!.
The vice governor is now maf-
ried to Casiguran MaYor Edwin
Hamoq founder of Aremar Con-
lftrXf FAr*s pw. . -2
 ANDAYA
of C.T.
structioo CorP., a Partnet
Leoncio, which is accused of using
big-time contnctors as dummies
to bag government Prolecls.
_.
Andaya has been accusrng l)lo-
kno of iavoring Casrguran and the
of
whole province Sorsogon bY
allocating billions of flood control
and other inftastructure proiects.
Many of these Public works
proiects were bagged bY Aremar
h.,r,struction. which entered in a
loint venture with C.T. Leoncio
Construction and Trading
Andava said the investigation
into Diokno's questionable acts
can be resumed "some other time"
and "bv some other PeoPle" in
the nexi Congress, adding "these
things have a way of coming back."
IT T FGAL ACTS
Meanwhile, tlle word war between
Andaya and Sen. Panfilo Lacson
cofltinued yestetday after Lacson
insisted SPeaker Gloria ArroYo
violated dre Constitution when she
and her allies amended $e alteadY
ratified version of the ProPosed
2019 national budget.
Lacsofl said Andaya's statement
that the House merelY itemized
apDropriations in the budget can-
not be iustified since the budget bill
ca.nnot be ameoded after it has been
ratfied bv the bicameral committee.
"As if'the act of itemizing the
allocations in the bicam can justify
ot cute what is exPlicidY Pro.dded
urlder Art. M Sec 26 (2) of the Con-
stinrtiorq thus: tJpon the last reading
of a bi[ no amendment thereto shrll
be allowed,"' I-acson saicl
He added AndaYa's ctaim that
the House is metelY itemizing
appropriatioos in the aPProved
budget was a clear admission tlat
whar the bicameral committee aP-
proved were IumP sum aPProPria-
ions "hence the need to itemize."
"Futheq by itemizing, does it
give the Speaker the discetion as
to the distribution. at least of the
HFEP GIeaIfi Facilities Enhance-
ment Proggam) menu list of alloca-
tions to the congressmen as what is
claimed by several congressmm who
called my amention to it aftet theY
received specific instructions from
the speaket via SMS thru GMA's
steff named Salamanca? If so, isn't
of disctetion
that a dear grave abuse
of
and violatio,-n of ArtVI Sec 26 (2)
the 1987 Constitution?" he asked.
' Lacson reitetated the delaY
in the tansmittal of the budget
bill to Malacaiang fot President
Duterte's signatute was due to
some congressmen's last-minute
insertions.
He had eadier accused AtroYo
the budget bill bY
of manipulating
te-aliqning P25 million for each of
-for
h.t Jlies HFEP and an addi-
tionat P2.5 million fot the pwchase
of ambulances.
Lacson said congtessmen who
did not vote for AroYo as SPeaker
only Aot P8 million appropriations
Laison said dris "brazeo, illegal
act" the bicameral tePort
"ft ratified bY both houses
had been
smacks of gtave abuse of dis-
cretion by SPeaker ArroYo. and
violates the 1987 Constitution's
prdvision barring amendmenrs to
a bill upon its last reading.
Arroyo, rhrough Presidential
sptkesman Salvadot Panelo, has
denied dre allesations.
"I hope hel deoial actuallY
means sh'e is now backrackjrrg and
wilt stop all her maniPulations of
the bicam report because she will
not succeed," Lacson said'
Diokno shared Lacson's Posi-
tion, saying it was uncoostirutional
f.,, to tinker with the bud-
^nvoni
set be'cause individuals cannot ar-
-bitratily
amend the apptoved bud-
set onie it is has been tadfied bY
ih. ioint .o-^itr." of the Senate
and the House of RePresentative.
'"There is a Process. Individual
\ Wnlj- pAqz.'l
("?-)
legislators canoot change that
Tiete is a process. It has to be ves
'
ted out bv both houses of Congress
*orking as Congress. That is
Supteme Cor-ut decision So an rn-
dividual cannot change the comPo-
sition of the budget bY themselves
without going back to the Senate or
the House," Diokno said.
"If individual X vdll simPlY on
his own, change the comPosition
of the budget after it has been
approved by rhe joint conterence
.orttmitt.e and both Senate and
Houses of Congress, dlat is un-
constitutional' he stf essed.
He teiterated thele wete no
lump sum apProPtiadons in the
administration's proposed budget
in Congtess
"I don't recall anY lumP sum
l th.ink tbeY
items in our budget
ate replacinq what we Put there
with their own item," said Diokno
budget secre-
in his last brie6ng as
tarv. He *as set ti take oarh as the
new cental bank chief last night'
vice the late Nestor EsPenilla who
recently passed away due to illness'
Andaya laughed off Diokno's
claim that the changes the House
made in the aheady ratified P3.757
trillion national budget fot
vras unconstiiutional.
changes in the
"(fhere were) no
national budget. There was nothing
illegal and unconstitutional," said
An-dava even as he admitted drere
*", i P15-billion lump sum fund
a
in the national budget to boost the
Univesal Healdr Cate l,anl
Andala said the House merelY
itemizet the lumP sum funds
aod identiEed which hosPitals the
monev *dl be allocated because
of the
the biiam-approved version
proposed Geoeral APProPriations
Acionlv ptovided that P15 billion
* .
for the HFEP under
"Uottl"a
the Departrnent of Healdrbudget'
of the amounL the House ol
Reptesentatires has a share of P4.5
biliofl, the Senate with P2 billiorr" and
the Departnent of Healfi @OFD
Central Of6ce with P8.5 billion.
Andava said the House had to
itemize rhe amount because the
GAA does not saY how the funds
wi.ll be divided among districs and
health facilities.
"If IumP sum, rhen
it is merely a
how will we distribute it to *re dif
ferent hosPitals, how wi.ll we now
qive meaning sa universal health
iate kune hindi nadn i-distribute sa
ibat iban'e hospitals?" Andaya said
He saii the'senate has done the
2019 same thing so he sees nothing ille-
gal with wlat the House leadershiP
did. - With Ruelb Cdstro