By Azer Parrocha/PNA
MANILA — Malacañang on Tuesday said that it will leave to Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno to decide, whether he will honor the show-cause order issued by the House appropriations committee against him for his failure to show up during a congressional inquiry into the 2019 budget.
“That is the call of Sec. Diokno. Since it’s directed to him, we’ll wait for his response,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.
On Tuesday, the House panel issued the show-cause order asking Diokno to explain why he should not be cited for contempt for skipping their probe on January 3.
“We will let him decide for himself,” Panelo said.
In a recent interview with CNN Philippines, Diokno said that he snubbed the Jan. 3 congressional inquiry “as advised by (the) Palace”.
Panelo pointed out that Diokno can still seek intervention from President Rodrigo R. Duterte during the next Cabinet meeting.
“I will leave it to Sec. Diokno, his stand. If he feels that he needs the official intervention of the President then he will raise that in the Cabinet,” Panelo said.
Panelo said that the Palace will not oppose the House panel’s move to issue a show-cause order unless there is an abuse in the exercise of questioning Diokno.
“First, trabaho ng Kongreso yun (that’s the job of the Congress). Unless there is an abuse of the exercise that is given to them by the Constitution, we will not oppose,” Panelo said.
However, Panelo described the House panel’s show-cause order as “premature” if Diokno had a valid excuse for not attending the congressional inquiry.
“Meron siyang excuse e. Sumulat siya. Kung halimbawa meron siyang previous engagement that’s a valid excuse, kung meron siyang sakit, that’s a valid excuse (He has an excuse. He wrote them. For example, he has a previous engagement, that’s a valid excise, if he’s sick, that’s a valid excuse),” Panelo said.
“Kung yung show-cause is based on just because di siya naka-attend na valid naman yung excuse, e premature ‘yun (If the show-cause is based on just because he wasn’t able to attend even with a valid excuse, that’s premature). Even then, Sec. Diokno has the opportunity to respond,” he added.
House appropriations committee chair Rolando Andaya Jr. earlier claimed that Diokno orchestrated the PHP75 billion worth of “insertions” contained in the PHP3.757-trillion proposed national budget for 2019 without the President’s consent.
Andaya also alleged that a contractor favored by Diokno bagged billions in government projects in the proposed 2019 budget, which the Budget secretary already denied.
Duterte and his Cabinet members have rallied behind Diokno’s integrity.
