The House of Representatives remained unperturbed by Malacanang’s rejection of its call to fire Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno as it vowed to work even during the Chirstmas break to dig deeper for dirt against the embattled Cabinet official.
This developed as the opposition veteran Rep. Edcel Lagman (LP, Albay) said that while Diokno did not commit any crime for the alleged executive insertions in the proposed National Expenditure Program, his actions are “sanctionable.”
Lagman, a fierce critic of the Duterte administration, also revealed that congressional districts of anti-Duterte solons will get funding for infrastructure projects next year, adding that this is different from the first two previous years when critics were given “zero” funding for district projects.
House Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, chairperson of the newly-formed House Committee on Public Accounts, said the panel will start its initial hearing on the suspected irregularities in the awarding of numerous and big-ticket public works contracts cornered by a favored contractor linked to Diokno.
Suarez authored House Resolution No. 2365 urging President Duterte to fire Diokno for allegedly allocating P75 billion for infrastructure projects in congressional districts without the knowledge of concerned congressmen.
Malacanang ignored the resolution unanimously adopted by the House on Wednesday, saying that it remains convinced that Diokno is innocent of the accusations leveled against him. (Ben R. Rosario)