By Wilnard Bacelonia | Philippine News Agency
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson on Thursday expressed dismay over the extent of corruption in the government’s infrastructure program.
“Reviewing the piles of ‘classified’ DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways] documents which I shared with my staff, we all wondered aloud if the more appropriate question to ask is, ‘Who is not?’ rather than, ‘Who is guilty?’ So sad to realize how widely corrupt our government infrastructure program has gone,” Lacson said in a post on X.
Lacson made the remark after reviewing with his staff several “classified” documents from the DPWH, which he had earlier flagged for systemic irregularities in flood control and other infrastructure projects.
He cited DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon’s initial findings that at least 421 out of about 8,000 flood control projects inspected by the DPWH, the Department of Economy, Planning and Development, the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines were “ghost projects.”
The senator also noted Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian’s revelation that over P10 billion worth of farm-to-market roads funded under the 2023 and 2024 national budgets were “extremely overpriced,” with one project reportedly costing 23 times more than the standard price set by the DPWH and others marked up by as much as 70 percent.
In his privileged speeches last August and September, Lacson bared that some DPWH officials pocketed public funds and even gambled away taxpayers’ money in casinos.
He also exposed several money-making schemes within the agency, including those involving lower-level personnel.
Lacson said the evidence gathered from his privileged speeches and Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearings had been turned over to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure and the Department of Justice for prosecution. (PNA)
