No more BuB in 2017 budget

MANILA, Philippines - Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno yesterday said the removal of the bottom-up budgeting implemented during the Aquino administration would be the first major change in the 2017 national budget.

“It’s a waste of funds,” he said.

The other major change is a freeze on all building construction projects next year.

Diokno will focus instead on the delivery of infrastructure programs that include road networks and improvements on seaports and airports.

The Duterte administration will comply with the Supreme Court ruling on the priority development assistance fund (PDAF) and the development acceleration program (DAP), he added.

Diokno assured the public of no pork barrel, which he defined as a particular amount given to each lawmaker.

A known critic of the previous administration’s DAP, Diokno defended the plan which could result in a maximum of P24 billion being given to 300 congressmen.

“Congress has the power to authorize. We have to give them what they want. Locally, they know the needs of their districts,” Diokno told reporters in a briefing.

“You cannot also make Congress just a mere rubber stamp,” he added.

He said lawmakers will be allowed to submit their project proposals, if they have any program they wanted to implement within their district or in the country, in the case of senators.