Diokno: No such thing as DBM pork

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno

There is no such thing as “DBM pork,” Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said on Wednesday, denying the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has P370 billion from government savings that can be used to influence May’s midterm elections.

Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., chair of the House of Representatives appropriations committee, said on Tuesday that the DBM generated savings of P370 billion in 2017 and that savings in 2018 were bigger.

He said the savings were “more than enough to sway the outcome of the 2019 election if he (Diokno) wants to.”

Not true

“Perhaps Representative Andaya was referring to the P370.1 billion worth of appropriations in 2017 reverted to the Treasury,” Diokno said in a statement on Wednesday.

“It is not true that the DBM can utilize these funds as the President’s veto message in fiscal year 2017 states that, in general, funds must be obligated not later than Dec. 31, 2017,” he said.

Diokno explained that the P370 billion “was computed by deducting from P388.4 billion in unreleased appropriations and unobligated allotments some P18.3-billion appropriations which were extended for 2018.”

“The bulk of these extended appropriations were for constitutional offices with fiscal autonomy. Unreleased appropriations and unobligated allotments comprised unused appropriations,” he said.

“Granted the computation of the P370-billion balance, I reiterate that such funds may no longer be used as they have been reverted to the Treasury. There is no such thing as ‘DBM pork,’ as the DBM follows pertinent provisions and laws in the use of funds and declaration of savings,” he said.