Enemies from within

Certain supposed allies of President Rody Duterte are striking the administration where it hurts most, which is the annual budget that up to now remains hanging due to what should be considered as a sabotage from within.

“After being debunked of his spins, Andaya merely recycles the allegation in another exaggerated and sensationalized form to serve his political agenda.

The supposed Duterte allies have been sneaking up, in an apparent alliance with groups seeking his ouster, to derail the economic thrust of the government in the guise of the fight against corruption.

That was the same strategy employed in the previous regime where demolition of the opposition was disguised as campaign against graft.

The team-up of House Appropriations chairman Rolando Andaya Jr. and Senate Finance panel chair Loren Legarda, in submitting a budget filled with lump sums and with the safeguard against corrupt practices, which is the cash-based scheme removed, proves the real intent of destabilization.

For one, they knew that the budget in its present form had no chance of going through Rody and his fiscal managers, thus resulting in more delays in its approval.

The Palace said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) will sift through the General Appropriations Bill and recommend provisions that may need removal through presidential veto.

A second point is that the legislators arrogantly believe that the public will not be discerning enough to find out about their unfounded allegations.

Lately, the wild allegation was that a kickback system has been institutionalized in the budget.

An apparent goal of the attacks on the DBM is to soften the President’s strong commitment against corrupt practices.

The insidious efforts seek to discredit and breed contempt of the DBM and give way to them in restoring the corrupt system of budgeting.

Behind the desperate moves are the millions of pesos in allocations of government projects.

Legislators used to have allocations of up to P100 million for soft and P100 million for hard projects under the Priority Development Assistance Fund but which were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2013.

In the drafting of the budget, projects were allocated based on the request of legislators and incorporated in the National Expenditure Program.

Since it is election year, however, the funds were apparently not enough.

Budget Secretary Ben Diokno resisted efforts of legislators to tap into the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge of the Road Board that Rody instead ordered abolished.

That started the trouble for Diokno and the DBM. The prime allegation of Andaya was that Diokno and the DBM adjusted the Department of Public Works and Highways budget without the agency’s knowledge.

Despite several explanations about the need to ramp up spending to meet the “Build, Build, Build” goals, Andaya stuck to his gun, saying efforts are under way in stealing public funds.

Diokno, who has been through legal battles against the pork barrel prior to joining the Duterte Cabinet, did not budge in the implementation of the cash-budgeting scheme.

The bicameral conference committee version of the budget removed the scheme, but Diokno said the move will have no effect on the budget, since the content and form of the budget is an Executive decision.

Under obligation budgeting, contracts awarded can be delivered even after the end of the year, but under cash budgeting those up to 12 months of work should be fully delivered by the end of the year.

Aside from speeding up projects, opportunities for corrupt practices are reduced under the cash scheme.

After being debunked of his spins, Andaya merely recycles the allegation in another exaggerated and sensationalized form to serve his political agenda.

The eventual effect of Andaya’s canard is to destabilize both the DBM and the Duterte administration and halt its campaign for change and progress.

That makes him and his cohorts not allies but part of the movement to oust the President.