Palace to let Diokno ''decide for himself'' on House show cause order : Panelo
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo on Tuesday said they will let Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno “decide for himself” after the House appropriations committee issued a show cause order against him.
"For now, we will let him decide for himself," Panelo said in a press briefing in Malacanang.
"I will leave it to Secretary Diokno (to decide on) his stand (about the show cause order). If he feels that he needs the official intervention of the President (Rodrigo Duterte) then he will raise that in the Cabinet," he added.
Leyte Rep. Vicente Veloso on Tuesday moved that the House Committee on Appropriations issue a show cause order against Diokno for snubbing its probe on his P75-billion insertions on the 2019 national budget.
Camarines Sur Rolando Andaya Jr., chairman of the committee, carried the motion after hearing no objections.
"It's the job of Congress, unless there is an abuse of the exercise that is given to them by the Constitution, we will not oppose,” Panelo said.
Panelo said if the reason of issuing a show cause order is because he cannot attend even after giving valid excuse then it's premature.
"It looks like the show cause is premature. He has an excuse, he wrote a letter. Example he has previous engagements, that is a valid excuse. If he is sick, that’s a valid excuse,” Panelo said.
“If the show cause is just because he cannot attend but the excuse is valid, that's premature," he added.
The Senate passed the 2019 General Appropriations Bill last week, but the House's passage as been delayed due to allegations by Andaya that millions of pesos of Department of Public Works and Highways projects found their way into a company partly owned by Diokno's son-in-law. Ella Dionisio/DMS
