We are in for surprises about the flood control projects in the Eastern Visayas region.
It is now December, some four months into the investigation of flood control projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways, and there is still nothing about probes into billions of pesos of flood control projects in this part of the country.
However, there may be headline news about this in the coming weeks. That is an educated guess based on the information I received that the National Bureau of Investigation has compiled documents placed in 69 boxes on ghost and substandard flood control projects in Leyte and Samar. This number includes the two projects in Southern Leyte that I mentioned in the last issue.
My reliable source reports that the PNP and NBI brought the 69 boxes to ICI.
This action is a possible next step. Multimedia news and commentaries from various sources, identify Cong. Sandro Marcos and former Speaker FM Romualdez as reportedly the controllers of the "allocable funds" mentioned in the Senate, which allegedly reached 400 billion pesos for 2025. Figures vary. Some would say over a trillion pesos.
News reports in September placed the flood control projects in this region at around 50 billion pesos. Since there are a thousand million in 50 billion, that amount is equivalent to fifty 1,000 million pesos.
It is so huge that we cannot help but ask: Why are there still many flooded areas in this region, such as during the recent series of typhoons? It is no wonder many feel the expenditure has not achieved the intended result and that is primarily due to corruption.
I know what some contractors and district engineers will say: we have yet to implement the projects fully; that is why they are not yet useful at this time. They will say, they need to have a bigger budget and spend more.
It is like the logic offered by Cong. Agarao of Laguna, when asked in the ICI last week. He said he did not know about the 900 million pesos flood control funds allocated to DPWH for implementation in his District. Later, he said these projects are not enough to meet his District's needs. He always insisted that implementing projects worth nearly a billion pesos was not the responsibility of his Office. Indeed, his pattern of answering questions and the content of his answers will serve as a template or guide for future testimonies at the ICI.
Curiously, all three Congressmen who were interviewed next asked for Executive Sessions so people would not hear what they said or see their body language while saying it. Just a guess: they must not have liked being put on the spot and having to lie in front of the camera for dissemination to any part of the world.
However we now know better. As confirmed by witnesses, the investigation has revealed that the Congressman determines who will serve as the District Engineer for his District and which projects he will implement, including selecting the contractor for each project.
The latest I hear is that the boxes I mentioned earlier will reveal information to be used by the Ombudsman in the cases it will file against the perpetrators of plunder and other crimes before the end of this month.
As I mentioned, we have not heard of any investigation, and all that happened was to point out possible ghost projects. That could be a thing of the past if the Ombudsman files cases before the end of the year following the ICI's recommendation.
Yes, indeed, we want to know more about the flood control projects in this region, including the names of contractors, the amounts per project, and the status of each one.
There should be no secrets. Everything should be transparent. The people are angry at how some government officials and contractors perpetuated a corrupt system of stealing taxpayers' money.
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