Senator sees involvement also of local govt execs
SEN. Erwin Tulfo yesterday said the 15 contractors who were awarded more than P100 billion worth of flood control contracts can be compelled to identify the politicians involved in the flood projects when the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee conducts its next hearing.
Tulfo said these contractors were awarded projects because of their established connections with congressmen and local government officials, thus, they can identify who the specific proponents of the projects were.
If the contractors refuse to disclose the identities of the lawmakers, they can be cited in contempt and detained either at the Senate building or a city jail, he said in an interview with radio dzBB.
Tulfo expressed belief that governors, mayors, and other local executives — not only House members — are involved in anomalous flood control projects.
“Yung mga contractors na yan connected yan sa mga politiko na yan. Hindi lang congressmen dito, mayroon ding mga governors diyan, mga mayor din na sasabit diyan na sila mismo ang tumitira ng flood control pagbaba ng pondo sa kanilang lalawigan, sa kanilang probinsiya. Sila na ang tumitira (These contractors are connected to politicians. Not only congressmen. There are governors, mayors who are involved because they themselves implement flood control projects once the funds are released to their respective provinces,” Tulfo said.
Tulfo said he also has information that some local executives are either contractors themselves or have relatives engaged in the business.
“Some mayors are also contractors. They are the ones who construct the flood control projects. They even venture in other areas other than their municipality to construct these projects,” he said in Filipino.
COURTESY
Senate President pro tempore Jinggoy Estrada, in a separate interview with dzBB, said congressmen who will be named by contractors will not be compelled to attend the Blue Ribbon Committee hearing because of inter-parliamentary courtesy, but they voluntarily attend.
“Siguro kung meron maglakas loob na pangalanan yung mambabatas na iyon, siguro sasagutin nila in a proper forum (If someone will have the courage to identify those congressmen, maybe they can just explain in the proper forum),” Estrada said.
Estrada said he, too, would want the contractors to identify the politicians involved in anomalous flood control projects.
The Blue Ribbon Committee on Tuesday started its motu proprio hearing on the irregular flood control projects as disclosed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The panel invited the 15 contractors identified by the President but only seven of them either attended physically or sent their respective representatives.
Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, the committee chairman, has approved the issuance of subpoenas against the eight absent contractors to compel them to attend the next scheduled hearing.
Estrada said failure to attend the next hearing would mean the issuance of an arrest warrant against them.
It was also during last Tuesday’s hearing that Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan said there are suspected ghost flood control projects in Calumpit. Hagonoy, and Malolos, all in Bulacan. Verification is ongoing, he said.
Meanwhile, Bacolod City Rep. Alfredo Benitez demanded Bonoan’s resignation, saying the principle of command responsibility “demands that the secretary step down.”
“If something as basic as this has been overlooked, who knows how many more critical projects are in a similar state,” Benitez, an independent, said in a statement after Marcos inspected a “ghost” flood control project in Bulacan.
INDEPENDENT BODY
Senate minority leader Vicente Sotto III has filed a bill which seeks the creation of an independent body tasked to investigate anomalies in all government infrastructure projects, which he said are now “seen, heard, and felt” by Filipinos.
Senate Bill No. 1215 filed on Tuesday proposes an Independent People’s Commission that will conduct comprehensive investigations into reported irregularities such as corruption, ghost projects, overpricing, and the use of substandard materials in both past and ongoing projects with jurisdiction over infrastructure implemented by the national government, local government units, and government-owned and controlled corporations.
“The failed flood control projects that are supposed to protect lives, livelihoods, and properties our countrymen, the dilapidated classrooms for our students, and the lack of quality farm-to-market roads to aid out farmers, all are engulfed in corruption, hindering the progress of the nation as a whole,” Sotto said in the bill’s explanatory note.
Sotto said while there are government bodies investigating corruption, they are not specializing or focusing on anomalies in government infrastructure projects. – With Wendell Vigilia
