Diokno says executive will not intervene in budget process

March 6, 2019

Outgoing Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Wednesday said the executive branch does not want to intervene in the Congress budget process.

“That is still the legislative process. We will intervene once we get the budget, the end roll copy of the budget. That’s when we will start the comparison between the president’s budget, what we have submitted to Congress and what came out of Congress,” he said.

“That’s what we call statement of difference,” he added.

Diokno made this comment after Sen. Panfilo Lacson claimed House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo allegedly ordered realignment of P25 million from the budget of the Department of Health (DoH) for  “favored” congressmen.

Diokno clarified individual legislators cannot change the composition of the budget without going to both houses of Congress.

“An individual who would like to change the composition of the budget by himself without going back to the Senate or the House, I think there is a legal question there,” he said.

“Probably Senator (Panfilo) Lacson (III) is correct that that is an abuse of discretion if individual simply on his own change the composition of the budget after it has been approved by the conference committee and by both houses of Congress. That is unconstitutional,” he added.

The outgoing budget chief said it’s up to Senate President Vicente Sotto III if he does not want to sign the budget version of Congress.

“If what comes out of the press is different from what they have agreed before, then he may have choose not to sign. That is his prerogative. That’s not our concern,” he said.

Diokno said the country is in its third month of a reenacted budget but he  assured the public this will not “hamper” the administration's “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure project.

“It’s really more on the local infrastructure. And remember, we have a new Congress so we can actually- this budget can actually be approved by the next Congress or we can submit a supplemental budget by July,” he said.

“But we will survive,” Diokno added.  Ella Dionisio/DMS