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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 24) – The Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission has identified congressional districts with allegedly anomalous infrastructure projects, and has attributed the problem to the influence of legislators in the choice of engineers and contractors.
“His power (The power of the congressmen) to influence the choice of district engineers and influence the choice of contractors, compromises the entire system to corruption, ”said PACC chief Greco Belgica at a conference on Saturday. online press.
“These people are indebted to them. (These people become indebted to them) and that exposes the system to corruption, ”added Belgium.
He said the PACC is now working with interested government agencies to carry out more investigations in specific districts, but declined to reveal details.
The chairman of the House public accounts committee, Mike Defender, asked Belgium to name the legislators involved, but the person appointed by the president said doing so would compromise the ongoing investigation.
“It’s not like I told the detainee that they will arrest him (It’s like telling people that they will be arrested), ”said Belgium.
DPWH under probe
In previous media interviews, Belgium said rampant corruption in the Department of Public Works and Highways can be attributed to “conspiracy” between some members of the House of Representatives, district engineers and contractors. He said the engineers, who are mere employees, “are harassed by congressmen” who want to profit from construction projects.
He said the scheme is similar to how certain lawmakers pocketed funds channeled to bogus non-governmental organizations through their pork barrel, which was later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Belgium said that the director of DPWH, currently Secretary Mark Villar, should be the sole authority in selecting engineers and contractors for government projects. He recalled that two district engineers were fired in 2018 after the PACC secured images that they were facilitating illegal transactions worth $ 4 million and $ 10 million.
He also cited the need to centralize operations, as he had to monitor all 250 districts across the country.
President Rodrigo Duterte believes that the problem at DPWH is in the lower ranks, saying that Villar is “too rich” to commit corruption. Malacañang said the president could form a task force to investigate the DPWH, apart from the internal investigation being carried out by the agency itself.
READ: Welcome the independent investigation into corruption DPWH; Findings from the internal working group may be available next month – Villar
Issues that DPWH faced in recent weeks include overpricing and delayed implementation of some of its infrastructure projects in 2019, which has been noted by the Audit Committee. The department is also questioned for its global allocations of billions of pesos in the proposed budget for 2021.
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