MANILA — It should be the Commission on Audit (COA) — not the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) — that reviews the issues encountered in flood control projects, lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc said.
ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio and Kabataan party-list Rep. Renee Co said in a statement that while a probe into the problems hounding flood control projects is welcome, the DPWH should not be the one conducting it, as it is the implementing agency and may also be involved in possible irregularities.
“The DPWH cannot be trusted to investigate itself when it is neck-deep in these anomalies. This is like asking the fox to guard the henhouse,” said Tinio, who was recently elected Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives.
“The DPWH is part of the problem, not the solution. How can they audit their own failures? It would be a whitewash, pure and simple,” Co added in Filipino.
Tinio said COA should lead the audit because of its “technical expertise” and legal mandate to examine government programs and contracts.
“COA has the technical expertise, independence, and constitutional mandate to conduct thorough audits. They exposed the PDAF scam, they questioned confidential funds—they can certainly uncover the truth behind these flood control failures even by just relying on their past audit reports,” he said.
In his fourth State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. denounced officials and contractors who allegedly profited from flood control projects, saying they should be ashamed of themselves.
His remarks came after widespread flooding affected several parts of Metro Manila and nearby provinces, following three successive cyclones that worsened the southwest monsoon.
Flooding issues were a key theme in Marcos’ address, amid concerns that funding for flood control projects may have been lost to corruption.
Recently, Sen. Panfilo Lacson warned that half of the country’s nearly P2 trillion flood control funds from 2011 onward may have already been lost—stressing the need for a review.
The President announced that an audit and performance review of these projects will be conducted to determine how taxpayers’ money was spent. He also warned members of Congress that he would veto any proposed national budget that is not aligned with his administration’s priorities.
According to Marcos, he will return any General Appropriations Bill (GAB) not consistent with the National Expenditure Program (NEP)—even if this results in a reenacted budget.
Co, meanwhile, emphasized that the DPWH has already been flagged in previous years over the implementation and transparency issues of its flood control projects.
“During the budget deliberations, we already pointed out the deficiencies in flood control projects. Now we are witnessing the catastrophic results—billions wasted while people suffer,” Co said in a mix of Filipino and English.
“The culture of impunity in the DPWH must not continue. The people deserve answers, and only an independent body like COA can provide them,” she added partly in Filipino.
Data presented by Makabayan shows that previous COA reports had already flagged the DPWH for its failure to efficiently implement 3,047 local infrastructure projects worth P131.5 billion, citing inadequate planning, detailed engineering, supervision, and monitoring.
These issues reportedly led to delays or non-implementation of projects and violations of the Revised Government Procurement Reform Act, its implementing rules, and contract terms.
“We urge Congress to pass a resolution directing COA to conduct an immediate and comprehensive audit of all DPWH flood control projects from 2016 to the present,” the Makabayan bloc said. (Gabriel Pabico Lalu © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
