Illusions

Likewise, when they say there are “no ghost projects in Leyte” yet they seem to forget that overpricing multiple projects is still not a defense. It is another accusation.

This is how governments often make fools of the people: by changing the label while preserving the abuse.

If a road was promised but never built, calling it “reallocation” does not erase public disappointment.

Citizens were told one thing, budgets reflected that promise, and taxes were collected under that expectation.

If the money was moved elsewhere, the real question is simple: who approved it, why was the public not informed, and where is the proof that the new spending served the greater good?

The second claim is even more insulting. Saying there were no ghost projects because projects merely became overpriced asks the public to choose between fraud and waste, as if one excuses the other.

Overpricing drains the treasury just as surely as nonexistence does. A bridge that costs twice its fair value is not honest simply because concrete was poured.

It is still a monument to weak oversight and private gain.

Language becomes a shield when accountability is absent. Officials rely on technical words such as realignment, adjustment, and revised costing to exhaust ordinary citizens and blur outrage.

But the public understands fairness better than bureaucracy. They know that missing projects, shifted funds, and inflated contracts all point to the same disease: power without consequence.

What people need is not semantic gymnastics but transparent governance. Publish contracts. Release line-item changes. Name approving officers. Audit timelines.

Explain price increases with evidence, not slogans.

A government insults its citizens when it thinks wordplay can replace truth.

People are not fooled because they lack intelligence; they are fooled only when institutions count on silence. And once citizens stop accepting excuses, the script collapses.

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