[ad_1]
MANILA, Philippines – The power of the secretary of the Department of Public Works and Roads (DPWH) to appoint district engineers should be strengthened to ensure that the loyalty of those officials rests only with him and not with the congressmen who use their power to influence the district’s choice of engineers and contractors for public works projects.
“Because of that power, they have the influence or were able to enforce their choice of district engineer in their districts or which contractors should win. These people are in debt to them and that exposes the system to corruption, “Commissioner Greco Belgium of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) said on Saturday at an online press conference.
Belgium also rejected the challenge of the representative of Anakalusugan, Mike Defensor, to identify the legislators involved in these activities.
“I don’t want to do things blindly or make a bulletin board or a noise board from our research. If I reveal who we are investigating or who are our suspects before our investigation, it would be as if I had telegraphed who would be arrested, and that would compromise the investigation, “he said.
The PACC’s reports will be presented to the president, the appropriate agencies that will continue the investigation, and the courts, he said.
An agency such as the National Investigation Office or the Ombudsman’s Office should be involved in the investigation, he added.
In order to strengthen the power of the DPWH secretary, Belgium said that the head of public works should be free from influence when appointing district engineers.
“In this way, the district engineers would not fear anyone but him,” he said, adding that the secretary of Public Works could also be called when investigating a district engineer.
Specific cases
Belgium said the PACC was working with other government agencies to push forward investigations and share the information it has received.
“We have been investigating DPWH for a long time and, as I said, when investigating, we could not play blind and close our eyes to what we see. That is why our reports would be sent to the president and the appropriate agency, and they are not intended to be a feast or turn them into blind items, ”he said.
It also said that it had completed its investigation of specific cases involving DPWH and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and had submitted it to the commission for a formal investigation.
The commission will address this and present recommendations to the president, he said.
President Duterte previously said that corruption at DPWH was serious and that construction activities did not start without money changing hands.
But he acquitted the Secretary of Public Works, Mark Villar, of his participation in the irregularities, saying that the latter was so rich that he would not need to steal from the public coffers.
Villar’s father, real estate mogul and former Senate President Manuel Villar, is the richest Filipino on Forbes’ billionaires list for this year, with an estimated net worth of $ 5.7 billion, or close to P280 billion.
Read next
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer and more than 70 other titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download from 4am and share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
For comments, complaints or inquiries, please contact us.
[ad_2]
