Duterte names Janet Abuel as DBM acting secretary

President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Janet Abuel as acting secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Malacañang said Tuesday.

Duterte’s spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the President announced Abuel’s appointment at the start of the Cabinet meeting on Monday.

Abuel was first named as DBM officer-in-charge on March 5 following the appointment of then-Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno as governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Among Abuel’s first acts as temporary head of the department was the issuance of National Budget Circular 575 which prescribes the guidelines on the release of funds for the fourth tranche of pay increase for state workers.

This is pursuant to the Executive Order 76 signed by the President to use the reenacted 2018 national budget to ensure funding for the salary increase amid the delay in the passage of the 2019 General Appropriations Act.

Abuel holds a master's degree in public administration from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, and a master of laws degree from the University of Sydney in Australia. —KG, GMA News