The Department of Finance has estimated that the Philippine economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (S$2.66 billion) from 2023 to 2025 due to corruption in flood control projects. -- PHOTO: AFP
MANILA (The Straits Times/ANN): The Philippines on Sept 13 named the first members of an independent commission tasked with investigating a spiralling scandal into bogus flood control projects that has already seen numerous lawmakers implicated.
Public scrutiny of so-called ghost infrastructure projects has been intensifying since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr put them centre stage in a July state of the nation address that followed weeks of deadly flooding, pledging to name names.
“None of them are connected to any agency or contractor that is under investigation,” presidential press officer Claire Castro said of the fact-finding body’s members, who will probe infrastructure projects launched within the past 10 years.
“As the president said multiple times, there will be no sacred cows here – even relatives, friends and allies,” she added.
Former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary Rogelio Singson and certified public accountant Rossana Fajardo have been designated as two of the commission’s three members.
Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong will serve as a special adviser and investigator.
Marcos will name a commission chairman “in the coming days”, Castro said.
Last week, construction firm owners and a former DPWH engineer implicated at least 28 lawmakers and government officials in the flood control scandal, saying that they would routinely demand cuts ranging from 10 to 25 per cent of earmarked funds.
The new body has the power to “conduct hearings, take testimony, and receive, gather, review, and evaluate evidence, reports, and information”, according to an executive order issued on Sept 11 by the president.
It may also request that the funds and property of those believed connected to fraudulent flood control and infrastructure projects be seized or frozen, though it does not have the authority to take action on its own.
On Sept 8, former Philippine Senate president Francis Escudero was replaced by Vicente Sotto III amid ongoing investigations by both houses of Congress into the flood control scandal.
Escudero’s name was linked to one of the country’s top flood control project contractors, a revelation he called a “demolition job” aimed at removing him from the senate’s top post.
The Department of Finance has estimated that the Philippine economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (S$2.66 billion) from 2023 to 2025 due to corruption in flood control projects. -- The Straits Times/ANN
