Benjamin Diokno

Diokno is an extreme distant relative to Atty. Jose Manuel "Chel" Diokno of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) and attorney Sen. Jose W. Diokno, the father of human rights. Though they have some unknown common ancestor and surname, the main Diokno family represented by Chel ran against the Duterte administration in the 2019 Senate elections.[5] Benjamin finished his bachelor's degree in a bachelor of arts program 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. His dissertation "Public Sector Resource Mobilization through Local Public Enterprises in Developing Countries : Issues, Practices and Case Studies" looked at using local public enterprise as alternative means of mobilizing funds for public purposes.[6]

During the Aquino administration, Diokno provided technical assistance to several major reforms such as the design of the 1986 Tax Reform Program,[7] which simplified income tax and introduced the value-added tax (VAT), and the 1991 Local Government Code of the Philippines.[8]

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.[9] 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.[10] 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.[9]

Diokno is a Professor Emeritus of the School of Economics of the University of the Philippines-Diliman. He served as Fiscal Adviser to the Philippine Senate. He also served as Chairman and CEO of the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) and Chairman of the Local Water Utilities Administration. He was also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (City University of Manila).

In his third tour of duty as Budget Secretary, Diokno intends to pursue an expansionary fiscal policy to finance investments in human capital development and public infrastructure. In addition, he seeks for the passage of a Budget Reform Bill to ensure the compliance of future budgets with the pertinent laws of the land. He also aims to re-organize and professionalize the bureaucracy with a Government Rightsizing Act.

Diokno writes a column for BusinessWorld,[11] Southeast Asia's first daily business newspaper.

• UP School of Economics: UPSE Faculty Profile
• Benjamin Diokno curriculum vitae