MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno as the new governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for his integrity, competence and expertise, his spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Tuesday.
Diokno succeeds the late BSP governor Nestor Espenilla, Jr., who died on Feb. 23 after battling tongue cancer for more than a year.
Panelo said Diokno was chosen from a list of names submitted to the President for the vacant BSP post.
The budget chief’s appointment came as a surprise as central bank watchers had expected an insider to replace Espenilla, who was deputy governor before Duterte promoted him to governor in 2017. Panelo, however, said the banking industry lauded the appointment.
He also expressed confidence that the issues against Diokno which includes budget augmentation for infrastructure projects that supposedly favored his relatives will not affect his chances of getting the nod of the powerful Commission on Appointments, a body composed of select senators and congressmen.
“Well, that’s their call [CA]. We have a good man there. We have an experienced man. We have an expert man. We have a man of integrity,” Panelo said, adding the allegations against Diokno were not true.
Duterte has already named Undersecretary Janet Abuel as officer-in-charge of the Department of Budget and Management. (GMA News)
