Plunder raps eyed vs Benjamin Diokno in-laws

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives rules committee is eyeing plunder charges against the in-laws of embattled Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno in connection with what congressmen call a multibillion-peso flood control scam under the Duterte administration.

“We are now in possession of bank transaction receipts showing that Aremar Construction received more than P50 million as share in the flood control scam. With this development, the evidence against Aremar has reached the plunder point,” Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr., committee chairman, said yesterday.

He said Diokno should better advise his son-in-law, Romeo Sicat Jr., to get a good lawyer.

“As an incorporator of Aremar, Jojo Sicat is duty-bound to ensure that their construction firm does not violate the laws of the land,” he said.

Sicat is married to Diokno’s daughter Charlotte Justine. He is a son of Sorsogon Vice Gov. Ester Hamor, whose husband Edward is mayor of Casiguran town.

The mayor is reportedly also a shareholder of Aremar.

Sorsogon was allocated P10 billion in infrastructure funds this year, though Albay reportedly received a bigger amount. The Sorsogon allocation includes more than P300 million for flood control projects in Casiguran town.

Andaya has questioned the flood control fund for the hometown of Diokno’s in-laws, saying Matnog, another town in Sorsogon that was flooded this week due to incessant rains, got zero funding.

On Wednesday, the rules committee started its investigation into the new flood control scam.

During the hearing in Naga City, Andaya presented a Land Bank deposit slip showing that an unidentified construction firm deposited more than P11 million to the account of Aremar Construction.

Andaya said the inquiry “has attracted more whistle-blowers willing to spill the beans on anomalous budget practices and allocations by the DBM (Department of Budget and Management).”    

“Immediately after the hearing in Naga City, several contractors in the Bicol region approached me and expressed their willingness to cooperate with the House investigation. They voluntarily offered to provide solid evidence confirming our initial findings that contractors related to Secretary Diokno are using dummies to get multimillion government contracts,” he said.

He said the contractors have entered into joint venture arrangements with Aremar similar to what the Sicar-Hamor firm has with Bulacan-based CT Leoncio Construction.

He added that the initial set of documents the unnamed contractors turned over to his committee included bank deposit slips showing more than P50 million in deposits to the construction firm owned by Diokno’s in-laws.

Under the law, defrauding the government of more than P50 million in a series of transactions is plunder.

Andaya said his committee would also ask the Bureau of Internal Revenue to check on the tax payments of Aremar and its incorporators to determine if these match with their income and their bank deposits.

“If these do not match, Aremar and its owners will have another problem. Not only the possibility of plunder but tax evasion as well,” he said.

The committee plans to invite Sicat and other Aremar owners to its next hearing.

Despite the surge in flood control funds in the last three years and the huge allocations for Sorsogon and Casiguran, Diokno has repeatedly said he had no hand in these and that Public Works Secretary Mark Villar recommended the appropriations.

According to Andaya, Villar knew about the funds but did not recommend them and did not submit a list of projects to be funded. Andaya said the DBM inserted the appropriations in the budget.

Diokno has also denied favoring his in-laws, their hometown and their province.

Palace officials have said President Duterte still trusts his beleaguered budget secretary despite questions raised about his integrity and his budgeting priorities.

Meanwhile, some quarters claimed that Andaya’s rules committee is not empowered to conduct any investigation, as its authority is limited to matters internal to the House.

They cited the rules of the House, which provide that the rules committee has jurisdiction over “all matters relating to the rules of the House, rules of procedure governing inquiries in aid of legislation, rules of procedure in impeachment proceedings, order of business, calendar of business, the referral of bills, resolutions, speeches, committee reports, messages, memorials and petitions, and the creation of committees inclusive of determining their respective jurisdictions.”

He said the Andaya panel “cannot conduct a hearing in aid of legislation and can only hold hearings on matters that concern the rules of the House and therefore other concerns, such as issues regarding the budget, must be investigated by other standing committees.”

The panel is conducting the inquiry into the flood control scam jointly with the committee on public accounts chaired by minority leader Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, who attended the Naga City hearing