Alleged DBM flood control fund scam

House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. (Camarines Sur) says he does not have an ax to grind against Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno and that they both want transparency.

"Idol ko nga 'yan dati eh. I learned from him," Andaya, a former Budget secretary himself, says in an interview on ANC's "Headstart".

Andaya adds he does not want President Rodrigo Duterte to fire Diokno. He says he wants the Budget secretary to face allegations of insertions and impropriety in the General Appropriations Act of 2019, which Congress has yet to pass.

The Department of Budget and Management, in a statement Monday, "expressly denies the facilitation of a 'fund scam' in the Flood Mitigation Structures and Drainage Systems program of the Department of Public Works and Highways," saying allegations of a supposed scam are irresponsible and misleading.

"First, the amount representing the proposed allocation for FY 2019 cannot be accounted for yet. There are no existing projects for 2019 as the 2019 budget has yet to be legislated, much less implemented. Second, the amounts allocated in the FY 2017 and 2018 GAA were reviewed, amended, and approved by both Houses of Congress before approval of the president," it says.

The department also stresses that it could not have shown preferential treatment in the allocation of funds since it "has no hand in determining the projects that should be implemented and in which areas or districts. This is the job of the implementing agency; in this case, the DPWH."

The House rules committee has been looking into a supposed scam where P332 billion was supposedly allocated for “non-existent” flood control projects. This purportedly comprises P213 billion worth of appropriations in 2017 and 2018 and the proposed allocation of P119 billion for 2019.

This was among the initial observations raised by the panel, based on “research” made by House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr.'s team.

“First of all, it is Secretary (Benjamin) Diokno – and not President Duterte or DPWH Secretary Mark Villar – who is really behind the insertions for the budget,” Andaya said in a power point presentation at the Avenue Plaza Hotel in Naga last week where the public hearing was held.