Benjamin Diokno | |
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Diokno in 2017
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Secretary of Budget and Management | |
Assumed office June 30, 2016 |
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President | Rodrigo Duterte |
Preceded by | Florencio Abad |
In office June 30, 1998 – January 20, 2001 |
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President | Joseph Estrada |
Preceded by | Salvador Enriquez Jr. |
Succeeded by | Emilia Boncodin |
Personal details | |
Born |
Benjamin Estoista Diokno March 31, 1948 Taal, Batangas, Philippines |
Nationality | Filipino |
Children | Charlotte Justine Diokno-Sicat Benjamin G. Diokno Jr. Jonathan Neil G. Diokno |
Residence | Quezon City, Metro Manila |
Alma mater |
Syracuse University Johns Hopkins University University of the Philippines |
Occupation | Economist, public servant, university professor |
Benjamin Estoista Diokno (born March 31, 1948) is the current Secretary of Budget and Management of the Philippines under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. He held the same position under President Joseph Estrada, from July 1998 until Estrada's ouster in January 2001. Diokno also served as Undersecretary for Budget Operations at the Department of Budget and Management, from 1986 to 1991, during the administration of President Corazon Aquino.
During the Aquino administration, Diokno provided technical assistance to several major reforms such as the design of the 1986 Tax Reform Program, which simplified income tax and introduced the value-added tax (VAT), and the 1991 Local Government Code of the Philippines.
During the Estrada administration, Diokno initiated and instituted several reforms that would enhance transparency and improve the efficiency of the delivery of government services. The first major reform instituted was the "what you see is what you get" or WYSWIG policy that is a simplified system of fund release for the General Appropriations Act (GAA). This allowed agency heads to immediately plan and contract out projects by just looking at the GAA, which is available in print and at the DBM website, without waiting for the issuance of an allotment authority. Diokno initiated the reform of the government procurement system (GPS) through the adoption of rapidly improving information and communications technology. He secured technical assistance from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to help the GPS develop an electronic procurement system along the lines of the Canadian model. By August 1999, the DBM had two documents necessary to initiate reforms in public procurement. In early 2000, Diokno and USAID successfully concluded a substantial technical assistance program for the DBM's budget reform programs, which now included procurement reform. Other budget reforms instituted by Diokno concerned procedures for payment of accounts payable and terminal leave/ retirement gratuity benefits. The release of cash allocation were programmed and uploaded to the department's website while payments were made direct to the bank accounts of specific contractor.
Diokno finished his bachelor's degree in Public Administration from the University of the Philippines (1968), and earned his master's degree in Public Administration (1970) and Economics (1974) from the same university. He also holds a Master of Arts in Political Economy (1976) from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA and a Ph.D. in Economics (1981) from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, USA.