In the course of the current initiatives to combat corruption in the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Regional Development Council has been mentioned several times. Sec. Vince Hizon and some senators cited the RDC as important in the fight to help determine the  culprits in the already acknowledged corruption in infrastructure projects. 

The RDC cannot fight corruption

The unmasking of the large-scale corruption in government is rocking the entire country. Many of us, just a few months ago, did not realize how widespread it is or the use of innovative strategies for making money from government funds, particularly those of the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Unmasking Corruption

The “downgrading” of Leyte First District Congressman Ferdinand Martin Romualdez from Speaker to simply Congressman must have sent shivers down the spines of many elective officials in Leyte and Samar. Everyone is asking:  What happens now? Will the present focus on corruption issues be the start of a shakeup in politics in this part of the country, or more specifically, in the first district of Leyte? 

A View of the Local Political Scene

Time and again, I have stated in this column that we have the opportunity as a region to have Congressman Ferdinand Martin Romualdez as our Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

These are confusing times for Eastern Visayas

In 1970, the movie Apollo 13, starring, among others, Tom Hanks,  popularized the phrase – Houston, we have a problem.  The mission of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States government suffered a significant emergency, which threatened the lives of its three astronauts. One of its oxygen tanks exploded, 56 hours into the mission. NASA specialists found a solution and instructed the flight crew, particularly on how to produce oxygen for breathing. They came back to earth safely.

Philippines, we have a problem

When people do certain things to solve a problem, this question always remains: what are their objectives? There are many ways to classify these objectives to understand why they are being pursued.

The Opening Gambit

I remember that fateful day when I was still in government many years ago.. It was a  gathering for both the government and private sectors. I had a talk and mentioned that Eastern Visayas still suffers from so much poverty that the government still has a lot to do to save the situation from further deterioration. I thought I expressed it well because I cited statistics on the incidence of poverty.

Telling the half-truths has to stop

When the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) announced two cases of the ghost projects in Bulacan costing 150 million pesos each, then Secretary Manuel Bonoan declared them to be isolated cases, meaning there were just a few of them, a careless exploit of a few DPWH personnel. His statement was clearly an effort to hide the widespread practice. I do not believe he was unaware of it. 

It was not an isolated case after all

A couple of issues ago, I mentioned here that it will take the Independent Committee on Infrastructure (ICI) nearly three years to file cases against those who have engaged in corruption. Recent meetings of the Senate on establishing an agency to address corruption have revealed that the extent of the problem is so vast that it will require a significant amount of legal work, which will overwhelm the ICI as presently constituted. 

The severe administrative requirements corruption of fighting 

 The resignation of Cong. FM Romualdez, our Representative for the first district of Leyte, from the Speakership is seen as a huge letdown for the district.  It seemed that we lost the district’s main backer in the flow of funds for the mega projects surrounding the district on all sides, in the shores, in the mountain sides, across a Bay, in the interior portions – a situation that has happened only now. In this sense it is a historical event. 

Replacing the Speaker

I AM BACK: Atty Buenaventura Go-Soco Jr. Column

I AM BACK COLUMN: Atty. Buenaventura Go-Soco Jr.

I AM BACK

Latest News