From day one, President Rodrigo Duterte has espoused frugality and simplicity as one of the main hallmarks of his administration.
This is why Duterte held his inauguration without much glitz, he prefers a pick up truck over a limo, and he flies commercial not jet.
So it was quite a shock for us to hear Budget Secretary Ben Diokno reveal that the 2017 budget of the Office of the President was pegged at P20.03 billion or six times the P2.87 billion budget this year.
Diokono explained that the Philippines hosting of the ASEAN meeting next year bloated the OP’s budget by P15 billion (which meant that Duterte would be left with P5.03 billion or 75 percent more than this year’s budget).
“We are hosting the ASEAN Golden Anniversary, P15 billion yun.
Sa OP talaga yan pero… later on pag na-approve na yun, depende sa kung sinong gagastos na agency, isasabog din namin yun. Right now naka-lump sum siya as ASEAN 50th anniversary, we are the hosts,” said Diokno.
If a P15 billion expense program sounds too over-the-top to host a semi-annual meeting of the Philippines with its six Southeast Asian neighbors, Diokno revealed that the original budget being sought was P19 billion or nearly twice the P10 billion the Aquino administration spent for hosting the APEC Summit last year.
21 leaders from the world’s biggest economies – US President Barrack Obama, China President Xi Jinping, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Canada Prime minister Justin Trudeau and who could forget the summit’s hottie Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto – converged in Pasay City last November.
Ben Diokno tried to explain the massive budget for a semi-annual meeting of second-tier and third-tier world leaders.
“Golden anniversary kaya medyo malaki. Pero I don’t think magastos lahat yung P15 billion. Ang request niyan ay P19 billion pero nacut na namin yun,” said Diokno.
