The appointment of Amenah Pangandaman, a distant cousin of incoming Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, as Budget Secretary has raised eyebrows among DBM employees who witnessed how in 2018, she (as DBM undersecretary) ordered the staff to insert P75 billion in the budget of the DPWH, without the DPWH’s knowledge. This issue was probed by Congress. She became Deputy Governor of Bangko Sentral under Diokno.
Broadcaster and younger brother of newly- elected Sen. Rafael Tulfo, Erwin has accepted the offer to head the Department of Social Welfare and Development of incoming President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The others who accepted the offers of Marcos jr. were Amenah Pangandaman for the Department of Budget and Management, Ma. Esperanza Christina Codilla- Frasco, daughter of Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and spokesman of vice president Sara Duterte for the Department of Tourism, Ivan John Enrile Uy for the Department of Information and Communication Technology (where he once headed the Commission that was replaced by the DICT) and former Manila Rep. Naida Angpin for the Presidential Management Staff.
Their appointments were announced by incoming press secretary Rose Beatrix “Trixie” Cruz- Angeles during a briefing today.
It must be recalled that Pangandaman was Budget Undersecretary in February 2019 when Congress summoned her to explain the budget insertion of P75 billion worth of projects to the 2019 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways without the knowledge of the agency.
DPWH employees who testified during the resumption of the House of Representatives inquiry into the unrequested funds said Pangandaman summoned them to the DBM central office on July 11, 2018 for “encoding” and “reformatting” of projects for inclusion in the National Expenditure Program (NEP).
Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., the appropriations committee chair, said it was clear from the testimonies of the witnesses that Pangandaman was the “puppet master of all this charade.”
Andaya earlier accused Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno as the authority behind the DPWH bonanza, which Diokno (the incoming Finance Secretary) denied but the House proceeded to investigate to trace the source of the P75- billion addition to the DPWH budget in the P3.8 trillion proposed national budget for 2019.
A controversy that followed the discovery and Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s earlier disclosure of billions of pesos in pork embedded in the draft spending program delayed approval of the 2019 budget, forcing the administration of President Duterte to operate on a reenacted financial plan for 2018.
In her testimony, Milagros Manaysay, DPWH division chief for programming, testified that the P75 billion was not part of the agency’s budget submission to the DBM for inclusion in the 2019 spending program.
An employee in Manaysay’s office, Glenn Degal, said it was Pangandaman who gave him the list of projects, and ordered him to make the “reformatting.”
Degal then turned over the thumb drive to a colleague, identified as Froilan Mabini, to do the “reformatting.”
Then Public Works Secretary Mark Villar earlier said he learned about the P75-billion addition to his department’s budget when he saw the proposed NEP.
The House members on Wednesday grilled representatives of CT Leoncio Construction and Trading and Land Bank of the Philippines on the alleged irregular award of contracts and payment of “royalties” to Aremar Construction Corp., which Andaya had described as a dummy construction company of relatives of Diokno.
Under the antimoney laundering law, bank transactions at least P500,000 must be reported to the AMLC.
Arriola declined to answer the lawmakers’ questions, repeatedly invoking the prohibition of disclosure under the bank secrecy law.
Lawyer Frasco assumed the mayorship of Liloan, Cebu on June 30, 2016 succeeding Vincent Franco Frasco belonged to Lakas-CMD. In 2017-2021 she joined the One Cebu (local party) under the PDP-Laban. She will be assuming the Department of Tourism post.
She previously practiced international arbitration and commercial litigation with one of the largest top tier law firms in Asia, Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura, Sayoc and Delos Angeles.
In 2019, Frasco was elected as President of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) – Cebu Chapter and as National Vice President of LMP.In 2021, Frasco was appointed Spokesperson of Vice Presidential Aspirant and Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte.
In 2021, Mayor Christina Garcia Frasco was awarded the prestigious Presidential Lingkod Bayan Regional Award by the Civil Service Commission in its 2021 Search for Outstanding Government Workers for her exemplary performance as a Local Chief Executive through proactive initiatives towards innovation in governance and sustainable and inclusive programs fostering excellence in government service. The Presidential Lingkod Bayan Award is conferred upon an individual for exceptional or extraordinary contributions resulting from performance that had nationwide impact on public interest, security, and patrimony.
Frasco’s efforts at increasing professionalization and transparency of government transactions, implementing strict measures of accountability and performance, with zero tolerance for corruption, has earned for Liloan three times (2017, 2019, 2020) the much coveted “Unqualified Opinion” from the Commission on Audit -- the highest rating that can be given by the audit agency to a local government unit.
Under Frasco’s administration, Liloan was awarded the Top Philippine Model Municipality in 2019 by the Manila Times. In the same year, Liloan was granted other national awards, namely, the Top Philippine Education Hub for its successful scholarship program that has supported over 10,000 scholars, Top Philippine Retirement Haven for programs promoting meaningful and joyful ageing among senior citizens, and Top Philippine Wealth Center for business friendliness and proactive programs on infrastructure and economic development.
In 2019 and 2020, the Department of Trade and Industry awarded Liloan as the Most Resilient Municipality in the Philippines.
Ivan John Enrile Uy used to head the Commission on Information and Communication Technology, the predecessor of DICT, which was abolished by the late President Noynoy Aquino with the creation of DICT.
In February 2019, one of the experts who conducted the review of Smartmatic was Atty. Ivan John Enrile Uy, the former chair of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) and now corporate secretary of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce.
Uy stressed that the Commission and Election (Comelec) and Smartmatic should present to them the diagram and the servers where the election results will go through during the elections process, he said back then.
“Walang problema sa technology. The technology works. The transmissions work. The VCM (vote counting machine) counting, it’s accurate. But the checks and balances, the security features, if they are activated, we will have a very good system,” Uy said.
Zenaida Naida Angping of the 3rd district of Manila (composing of Binondo, Quiapo, San Nicolas and Sta. Cruz) was reelected in 2013 and was term-limited and barred from running again. Her husband, Harry, served the same district from 1998 to 2004.
Angping is considered a good friend and political ally of Marcos. The former Manila lawmaker is currently part of the Marcos transition committee coordinating with Malacañang on the transfer of power.
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