Defeated House leaders eye DBM

House leaders are not about to lie down and roll over despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to abolish the corruption-riddled Road Board as the feud between the House of Representatives and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) continues.

Pushing their allegations against DBM on the said P75-billion insertion on the National Expenditure Program (NEP), the House Committee on Rules had set a hearing today in Naga City, this time targeting the cash-based budgeting system that was set to be imposed upon the passage of the 2019 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

The public hearing will also tackle “questionable practices” of the Budget department, including the supposed improper deal with C.T. Leoncio Construction and Trading.

The legislators earlier had recalled the bill to abolish the Road Board despite the measure being transmitted to the Senate. They rescinded the bill, but senators said that since it was already sent to them, they get the authority to decide on its fate.

House leaders expected to be present at the hearing are Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr., Minority Leader Danilo Suarez, Senior Deputy Majority Leader Rodante Marcoleta, Reps. Anthony Bravo and Alfredo Garbin Jr.

The legislators have alleged that Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno exerted influence to have government projects awarded to C.T. Leoncio.

Diokno had already denied knowing the company nor its owners during a press briefing at the Palace last 19 December 2018.

“First of all, you will not see that name in the budget. Those projects have to go through competitive bidding if Leoncio or whatever his name is, then he will get the project. I don’t know that guy, I don’t know his face, I don’t know him from Adam,” Diokno said.

“They are accusing my daughter as being related. My daughter is married to a ‘Sicat’ and his father died, then his mother remarried this Sorsogon politician. So, I’m not related to the Sorsogon politician whatsoever. And as I told you, we don’t talk about this in our gatherings, in our family affairs,” he added.

Determined to probe Andaya said, nonetheless, the House Rules Committee had issued subpoenas to the owner of C.T. Leoncio and several Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials in the Bicol region “to shed light on the so-called flood control scam and other anomalous transactions involving multibillion-peso infrastructure projects in Sorsogon province.”

He also said House secretary general Dante Roberto Maling had sought the assistance of Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde to locate and serve the subpoena on individuals invited to the hearing.

Consolacion Leoncio, owner of C.T. Leoncio and DPWH officials engineers Virgilio Eduarte, Danilo Verzola, Ignacio Odiaman, Wilfredo Flores, Larry Reyes, Merla Raveche, Jorge Gorimbao, Victor Azupardo, Gil Augustus Balmadrid and Noland Claro Guerrero; Malou Lacuna, Renato de Vera and Dr. Elenita Tan were the individuals who were also issued subpoenas.

Usman damage cited After the surge of tropical depression “Usman,” Andaya cited 19 villages in Matnog, Sorsogon were now submerged in flood water.

However, he said despite its vulnerability to flood, Matnog did not get a single centavo in the billions of pesos allocated by the DBM for flood control projects in Sorsogon under the 2019 NEP.

“Worse, a huge slice of the budget allocated by the DBM for Sorsogon flood control projects in 2019 – a total of P325 million – will go to Casiguran town where an in-law of Diokno is seeking re-election as mayor,” Andaya accused.

He said it is clear that there was a problem in budget allocation made by the DBM.

“For 2019, zero budget for flood control in Matnog, but a whopping P325 million allocated for Casiguran which has no threat of flooding now or in the next 25 years,” he added.