MANILA - Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Friday dismissed as "illusory" a House leader's allegation that he inserted billions of pesos in appropriations to this years budget to favor one contractor.

House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr had claimed that there was an "insertion" in the budget allegedly for flood control projects.

"His accusations are illusory. The numbers are wrong and the narrative he’s selling is not grounded on facts,” Diokno said.

Diokno reiterated that the "legitimate adjustment" was done to support the government's commitment to bring infrastructure spending to at least 5 percent of gross domestic product.

Budget Sec. Ben Diokno “vehemently refutes” House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya’s allegation that he “inserted” P75 billion to DPWH’s proposed 2019 budget and denies that the DBM anomalousy allocated funds for flood control projects.

— Vivienne Gulla (@VivienneGulla) January 4, 2019

• House begins probe on alleged 2019 budget insertions

Diokno said the P114.3 billion allocation for flood control projects in 2019 was "well below" the initial DPWH request of 132.5 billion.

He also said no contractor was favored in the awarding of projects since the DBM is not involved in implementation.

"Again, the role of the DBM is to set the budget ceiling for the line agencies and to evaluate whether their programs are aligned with the government’s priorities," he said.

The House Committee on Rules on Thursday started its probe on alleged irregularities in the 2019 national budget, focusing on allocations for flood control projects of the DPWH.

• Lawmaker says flood control projects are new cash cows
• Andaya grills Diokno over 2019 budget 'insertion'

-- with a report by Viviene Gulla, ABS-CBN News