BUDGET Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Monday said there is no special budget for Charter Change and emergency powers to solve traffic in Metro Manila in President Rodrigo Duterte’s P3.35-trillion national budget for 2017.
Diokno said no appropriation was made for Charter Change because the President preferred a Constituent Assembly as the mode for revising the Constitution, which does not involve additional expenses because the House and the Senate have their respective budgets.
Under this mode of Charter Change, the House and Senate convene as a Constituent Assembly to make changes to the Constitution.
Diokno also revealed there is no budget for the President’s proposal to get emergency powers to address the traffic problem, even as the budget of the Office of the President grew tenfold from P2 billion this year to P20 billion in 2017.
“Emergency powers do not need a budget,” Diokno said.
Diokno said the budget of the Office of the President rose sharply because at least 12 government agencies have been placed under it.
Sources said two factions within the Cabinet are in a tug-of-war over the National Food Authority and the Philippine Coconut Authority, which Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol wants returned to the control of the Agriculture Department.
The two agencies have been put under Secretary to the Cabinet Leoncio Evasco Jr., whose office is under the Office of the President.
Diokno allayed fears that the government would be caught flat-footed since there was no budget for Charter change in the 2017 budget.
He said the government had contingency funds if Congress does decide to favor a constitutional convention with elected delegate, which is more expensive.
“We can get the funds for Con-Con from the contingency fund. If you elect the delegates as proposed to be synchronized with election of barangay captains you don’t need additional budget for that,” Diokno said.
Diokno also said the budget for the Office of the President would include P15 billion for the hosting of the 50th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit to be held in Cebu next year.
“We’re hosting the ASEAN golden anniversary, that’s P15 billion. That belongs to the OP,” Diokno said. “The original request was P19 billion, but we were able to cut it.”
Duterte is set to visit the country’s neighbors in the Asean in his first foreign trip as head of state, tentatively set between Aug. 23 and Aug. 30, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said Monday.
Special Assistant to the President Secretary Christopher confirmed that President is scheduled to visit Laos on Sept. 6 to 7 for the turnover of the chairmanship of the Asean. With John Paolo Bencito