House probe into Diokno a 'diversion,' Palace asserts

MANILA, Philippines — A House of Representatives probe into Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno's alleged links to a "favored contractor" and to P75 billion in alleged insertions into the proposed Department of Public Works and Highway budget is a diversion, a Malacañang spokesperson said Tuesday.

Salvador Panelo — who said Diokno still enjoy's President Rodrigo Duterte's trust — said that the issues being raised against Diokno came up when Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, said that areas within a district in Pampanga had allocations worth P2.4 billion.

While Lacson did not name House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo specifically, the areas he mentioned fall within the 2nd District of Pampanga, where she is serving her third term as representative.

“They most likely tried to put him in the hot seat instead of them,” Panelo said. “In a way, it's diverting the issue from them to him. It's skirting the issue. “

“According to him (Diokno), this started because Sen. Lacson exposed certain amendments or insertions, and because members of Congress, or two of them were in the hot seat.”

Panelo may have been referring to Arroyo and House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. (Camarines Sur), who were accused of having the biggest budgets for their districts at a combined P4.3 billion.

He also confirmed Diokno was told by Duterte himself not to attend the next House of Representatives hearing scheduled to take place in Naga City next year. “There's only one who can make him not go there. Presumably it's the president,” Panelo said. “The fear there is he might be receiving the same rude treatment.”

Andaya first dropped these allegations against Diokno last week after inviting him to a session he called “Question Hour” at the House of Representatives.

Diokno admitted to adding P75 billion to the DPWH's 2019 budget, but denied these were "insertions," and said the increases were "above board." He also denied links to the "favored" contractor.

Andaya attributed Diokno's loose connections to the Hamors, a political family in Sorsogon province – who they say are close to Consolacion Leoncio the owner of CT Leoncio or the "preferred contractor" – as the reason Diokno had been allegedly meddling on the company's behalf in bagging projects.

Constitutional crisis?

While Panelo denied the tiff between the House leadership and budget secretary would lead to a constitutional crisis, he doubted that Diokno would lose the president’s support despite the fact the allegations are being made by the administration allies in Congress.

Conflicts between co-equal branches of government are often called constitutional crises although there is no standard definition for the term. 

“Rightly or wrongly, between the reputation of Secretary Diokno or ‘other members’ who cast aspersion on him, I think the comparison is obvious,” Diokno said without mentioning names.

He added, “The reputation of Secretary Diokno is solid. In 32 years of service, there is nothing we can throw at him.”

Panelo also urged House members not to destroy a Cabinet member's reputation over what he called "hearsay."

“If the only question is if 'I know these people,' then I would just submit an affidavit,” Panelo added.

Both Arroyo and Andaya denied having the biggest budgets and said they were unfairly being singled out.

Suarez: Diokno issue not a deflection

House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez (Quezon) also downplayed the timing of the allegations against Diokno and told ANC in an interview Monday morning, saying it as not a deflection from the issue of the House speaker's allegedly inflated budget.

"It's not that much if you compare to the district distribution of government projects. It's small compared to the other members of the House and the senators as well," Suarez said in a mix if Filipino and English.

Following “Question Hour” last week, Suarez filed a resolution calling on President Duterte to fire Diokno over the allegations.

READ: Duterte still trusts Diokno despite House troubles, says Palace

The resolution prompted Department of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez to send Duterte a letter of support for Diokno: "Together with the Build Build Build team, I have carefully examined the records and conclude that Sec. Diokno's actions have all been legitimate and in the interest of the nation. We believe in and vouch for Sec. Diokno's honesty, integrity and competence."

He slammed the investigation as a violation of the separation of independent co-equal branches of government. Eight other Cabinet secretaries signed the letter of support.

Arroyo calls Diokno probe Congressional ‘oversight’

But House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (Pampanga), an ally of both Andaya and Suarez, denied HR 2365 was a violation of a separation of powers and an exercise in congressional “oversight.”

"So if what the House votes for, what the House makes decisions on, that’s part of their role as a legislature,” Arroyo said on Saturday.

“And what do you call this? Oversight,” she was quoted in the Manila Bulletin.

On Sunday, Andaya made another allegation that he had received information that an unnamed former member of the Duterte Cabinet was allegedly involved in "parking" at least P300 million in infrastructure projects.

READ: Andaya alleges ex-Cabinet member 'parked' P300M in infra projects

"Parking" refers to listing funding under the budget of a congressional district for use later on for a different project and in a different congressional district.