MANILA – Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio has urged investigators to go beyond surface audits in President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s order for lifestyle checks on officials, stressing the need for a deeper probe into questionable flood control projects that have triggered thousands of public complaints.
“Oo, dapat lang. At hindi lang yung elected public officials ha, pati ‘yung mga appointed public officials at hindi lang ‘yung on the surface na sasabihin natin kung ano yung nasa SALN, dapat deep dive,” Duterte-Carpio said in an interview in The Hague, the Netherlands.
The Vice President also pressed authorities to expose individuals serving as fronts for erring officials. “Kung sino ‘yung mga dummy. Ilabas ‘yung mga dummy ng mga public officials,” she added.
Malacañang earlier confirmed that the lifestyle audits would start with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which admitted to the existence of “ghost” projects and vowed to conduct an internal probe.
Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro described the move as the administration’s initial step in addressing widespread irregularities, with over 9,000 complaints tied to flood control projects already filed through the sumbongsapangulo.ph platform.
The Commission on Audit has likewise ordered an inspection of flood control projects in Bulacan, while the government recently rolled out a monitoring platform to track infrastructure spending.
Several Cabinet members have rallied behind Marcos’ directive, saying the audits are crucial to restoring public trust in government projects./PN
