Diokno hopes next Budget chief neither ‘politician’ nor ‘ex-politician’
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Wed, 06 Mar 2019 06:19:53 +0000
OUTGOING Budget secretary Benjamin Diokno on Wednesday hopes that his successor will neither be a “politician” nor “an ex-politician” and is considering recommending a “technocrat” for the job.
In his weekly “Breakfast with Ben,” Diokno, whom President Rodrigo Duterte appointed as the next Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipina governor, said he preferred a “non politician” to prevent the use of the budget “as a way of gaining popularity or giving [in] to the request of some politicians.”
Diokno’s statement comes amid reports that Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will replace him at the DBM.
Calling these reports “speculative” and refusing to comment, Diokno said the choice of his successor was “not up to me.”
Arroyo, who took over as Speaker of the House of Representatives in July last year, is now on her last term as Pampanga representative.
“You’re really concerned with the efficient allocation of the resources. Now I’ve seen them all, if you are politician or if you are somebody [who] plans to run for office and you’re a DBM secretary, nadidistort yung thinking mo (your thinking is distorted) and you tend to maybe give more money than usual,” he said.
“Eh pera ng taong bayan yun di ba, di dapat ganun. Maingat lang tayo sa pera ng taongbayan (That’s a money of the people, so that shouldn’t happened. We are taking care of the people’s money),” Diokno said.
Diokno will take over the post from the late BSP governor Nestor Espenilla, Jr., who died last month after battling tongue cancer for more than a year. He is set to be sworn in on Wednesday evening.
Diokno said that he would preside his first Monetary Board meeting as chairman and BSP governor on Thursday, March 7.
While the President has yet to appoint the next budget chief, Diokno said Malacañang designated Budget Undersecretary Janet Abuel as acting secretary of the DBM.
Diokno said he would recommend Abuel as his successor, saying that she has “technical competence.”
“The qualifications of Janet Abuel. She has the technical competence, nagtraining siya and wala siyang agenda (she has been trained and has no agenda). Kasi (Because) if you are a politician, parang iba yung agenda mo eh (you have a different agenda),” Diokno said, when asked about the qualifications the President should look for in the next DBM chief.
“If you can, appoint a technical person. Siguro Finance hindi rin politiko (Perhaps in the Finance department, it should not be a politician). DBM, NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority), you don’t want a politician there. Yung tatlong office na yun (Those three offices), I think should be manned by technocrats,” he added.
Diokno said DBM under Abuel would still be continuing cash-based budgeting, the use of satellite data to monitor implementation of high-value government projects, and the “Green, Green, Green” project where city governments would pitch to build parks and open spaces.
A Bar topnotcher, Abuel is the DBM undersecretary for the Local Government and Regional Operations Group.
Abuel holds a master of laws degree from the University of Sydney in Australia and master’s degree in public administration from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.
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