Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong quit his post as a special adviser of the Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI) on Friday, the same day Malacañang said his appointment is under review due to possible conflict of interest. His resignation was “not an easy choice, but one I believe is necessary,” Magalong said in a statement...
Tag: DPWH
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Alcantara able to substantiate his bombshell testimony, Lacson says
The turnaround of former Bulacan district engineer Henry Alcantara, now a “protected witness,” in the large-scale flood control anomalies came as a surprise during the resumption of the Senate inquiry into the corruption scandal on Tuesday. But for Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, who chairs the Senate blue ribbon committee looking into the scandal, the...
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Return the money, jail the crooks: Vigorous protests again animate the motherland
The sun blazed all morning Sunday and rain poured intermittently starting in the early afternoon in Metro Manila. Still, attendance was vigorous at the twin protest rallies—dubbed “Baha sa Luneta” at Rizal Park and “Trillion Peso March” at the People Power Monument on Edsa—condemning the brazen corruption in flood control projects and demanding accountability. Attendance...
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Subdivision residents upset at discovery that Discaya firm bagged contract for bridge rehab project
ALABANG, Muntinlupa City — With the revocation of the project contractor’s license, residents of a private subdivision here are questioning the scheduled closure next month of a bridge to pave the way for retrofitting the South Luzon Expressway crossing. To their surprise and consternation, the residents of Pleasant Village learned just last week that the...
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Still flooded with ghosts, but the plunder levels are unprecedented
Having ghost projects in our public works is neither new nor surprising. We’ve always had ghosts in all aspects of our government and politics, from ghost voters (resurrected from the dead) to ghost employees and ghost parents (named in fraudulent birth certificates). What is new is the breadth, depth and brazenness of the plunder of...
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Name, shame, prosecute: Lacson plumbs the ‘national sewer of corrupted flood control projects’
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson has linked recently resigned public works secretary Manuel Bonoan to a government contractor of multibillion-peso flood control projects in Bulacan, a province that, he said, “has proven to be the national sewer of corrupted flood control projects.” Delivering on Tuesday the second part of his privilege speech titled “Flooded Gates...
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All the presidents’ contractors: For 20 years, Malacañang has been unable or unwilling to stop corruption in public works
For the past two decades, across four presidential terms, the same contractors have been awarded the largest public works contracts. Whether the president is a Marcos, a Duterte, an Aquino, or an Arroyo, many politically-connected firms have outbid all others, cornering a disproportionate chunk of lucrative public works projects funded from the people’s taxes. Through...
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House begins ‘evidence-based’ inquiry into corruption in flood control projects
The House of Representatives’ “tricommittee” begins today its own inquiry into questionable flood control projects, with the objective of “completing the story” behind those deemed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as “ghost” and substandard projects. Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon, chair of the House committee on public accounts, said he and his colleagues would start with...
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Lacson ‘pulls the trigger’ on flood control projects, says what Filipinos need is ‘greed control’
Sen. Panfilo Lacson has laid out how billions of pesos in government-funded flood control projects ended up in the hands of corrupt contractors, public works officials and politicians through the years, resulting in persistent massive flooding and inflicting suffering on Filipinos. Making good on his promise to explain the pork barrel insertions in the national budget, Lacson...