{"id":193689,"date":"2018-12-12T05:32:58","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T10:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=193689"},"modified":"2018-12-12T05:32:58","modified_gmt":"2018-12-12T10:32:58","slug":"palace-to-probe-alleged-favored-contractor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/12\/12\/palace-to-probe-alleged-favored-contractor\/","title":{"rendered":"Palace to probe alleged ‘favored contractor’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cSince there is an allegation of corruption, it follows that we have to investigate,\u201d Panelo said in a Palace briefing. (File Photo<\/a>: Office of the Presidential Spokesperson\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Malaca\u00f1ang on Wednesday said it will look into claims made by a House leader that a favored contractor bagged billions in government projects in the PHP3.757-trillion proposed national budget for 2019.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made this remark after House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. accused Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno of having links to CT Leoncio Construction and Trading, a contractor which bagged at least 30 government projects.<\/p>\n

Andaya also claimed that Diokno allowed the insertion of some PHP75 billion in the proposed 2019 budget without the President\u2019s consent.<\/p>\n

Diokno denied the allegations, insisting that that the amount cannot be considered insertions because they were intentionally \u201caugmented\u201d and part of the budget \u201cprocess.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSince there is an allegation of corruption, it follows that we have to investigate,\u201d Panelo said in a Palace briefing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to investigate first. We don\u2019t even know if it\u2019s true or not. Because there have been denials. We have to know exactly whether the charges or allegations of corruption is true or not or favoring certain persons or firms,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Panelo said despite Diokno\u2019s denial, the executive branch will still investigate the allegations, and committed that there will be no sacred cows.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecretary Diokno has already denied any involvement or any link. But let me repeat what we have said repeatedly: This President is no respecter of friendship, of alliances, of party affiliations, of friendship. His principle is you follow the law; you violate it — you will account for it. You engage in corruption, then you will be fired,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Man of integrity\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Panelo, however, said Diokno still enjoys the trust and confidence of the President.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, definitely. Mr. Diokno is known to be the Mr. No. Meaning, he is a man of integrity. So, when he says he\u2019s not involved, I believe him. Unless you show me, as a lawyer, competent evidence to the contrary; the presumption he is a man of competence and integrity,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Panelo denied that the executive branch\u2019s plan to probe the alleged budget insertions is not \u201cinterference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the part of the Executive, it wants to know whether or not there have been illegal insertions in the budget. On the part of the House, they will investigate whether or not these insertions made are really illegal,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Panelo said the President will not interfere with any department or branch of the government but will make sure that officials involved in corruption will be held accountable.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has not interfered and will not; he will only come in when there is corruption,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Asked if the Palace wanted an overhaul of the budget, Panelo insisted that it is the job of the Congress to scrutinize the budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s their (Congress\u2019) call, they can do whatever they want to with the budget provided it\u2019s within the constitutional restrictions,\u201d Panelo said insisting that the President will not allow any violation on the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it violates the Constitution or the laws covering it then certainly, we will not allow it. So, that\u2019s precisely why I\u2019m telling you, its House call — they will have to deliberate. They will have to decide whether or not this is in violation of the Constitution,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Malaca\u00f1ang on Wednesday said it will look into claims made by a House leader that a favored contractor bagged …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":191167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}