Diokno: Nayong Pilipino execs responsible for deal

BUDGET Secretary Benjamin Diokno has denied charges that he was involved in facilitating a questioned lease deal between Nayong Pilipino Foundation Inc. (NPFI) and Landing Resorts Philippines Development Corp.

“We should not distract ourselves from the main issue here. Ultimately, it is the GOCC (governmentowned and -controlled corporations) governing board that has full responsibility and accountability for its decisions,” Diokno said in a statement released on Tuesday.

Former government corporate counsel Rudolf Jurado has accused Diokno and Finance Secretary Carlos “Sonny” Dominguez 3rd of revoking the bidding requirement for the Nayong Pilipino deal.

Jurado claimed that the Governance Commission for GOCCs

- bers, Diokno and Dominguez, came up with a January 2018 circular that overturned rules requiring a public bidding for lease deals of 10 years or more for properties larger than a hectare.

The Budget department claimed that the ruling had been misconstrued by Jurado, saying that the GCG circular only emphasized the applicability of Executive Order 301, series of 1987, on the lease of government property for private use, “which authorizes the heads of the agency, to determine the reasonableness of the terms of the lease and the rental rates and enter into such lease contracts.”

“This was reiterated in GCG MC (memorandum circular) 2018-02, which expressly recognized that though the proposed Major Development Projects and Contracts of GOCCs lie within the sound business judgment of the respective governing boards of the GOCCs, they are still mandated by existing laws, rules, and regulations to exercise extraordinary diligence in the conduct of business and in dealing with the properties of their respective GOCCs,” the department added.