DBM denies withholding Ombudsman funds: ‘We’re not acting gods’

MANILA, Philippines — Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Wendel Avisado on Tuesday denied that they are “acting gods” by withholding funds of the Commission on Audit (COA).

“So hindi lang po totoo yun, I’d like to debunk with all due respect to the good Ombudsman na wala po kaming dinedelay dito po,” Avisado said in an interview over Teleradyo.

(It’s not true, I’d like to debunk with all due respect to the good Ombudsman that we’re not delaying anything.)

“Wala po kaming dinedelay, we are not close to gods and we’re not acting gods,” he added.

(We’re not delaying anything, we are not close to gods and we’re not acting gods.)

Ombudsman Samuel Martires, during a budget hearing on Monday, said that if it were up to him, the COA should file charges against DBM for withholding the release of the state auditor’s P173 million appropriations.

The Ombudsman said this violates the fiscal autonomy under the Constitution.

But Avisado said there would be no problem at all if the COA submits its special budget request to the DBM.

“Kailangan po mag-submit ng special budget request ang departamento at kaakibat niyan yung plano kung ano ang gagawin nila sa gusto nila mapa-release na pondo. Usual lang po na requirements po yan,” Avisado said.

(They need to submit a special budget request detailing the plans on how they want to use the funds. That’s a usual requirement.)

“We recognize and we respect and we know that for the constitutionally autonomous bodies like Ombudsman, COA, judiciary, etc., hindi po namin puwede pakialaman yan. Wala po kaming dinedelay dito, lalo na sa Constitutional bodies,” he said.

(We recognize and we respect and we know that for constitutionally autonomous bodies like Ombudsman, COA, judiciary, etc., we cannot meddle with that. We’re not delaying, especially with Constitutional bodies.)

“Kaya lang po, wala pa kami mairerelease pa kasi wala kaming natatanggap na special budget request sa kanila. So hindi po totoo yun na hindi namin nirerelease,” he went on.

(But we can’t release funds yet because we have yet to receive a special budget request. So it’s not true that we did not release anything.)

EDV