MANILA: Over P180 billion (US$3.06 billion) has likely been lost to ghost flood control projects dating back to 2016, according to Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson.
He said the figure does not include substandard projects.
According to Lacson, he and Senate finance committee chair Sherwin Gatchalian arrived at this estimate based on some 10,000 projects inspected so far, where more than 600 were found to be ghost or nonexistent.
“We are looking at 30,000 flood control projects since 2016. If we extrapolate based on earlier findings that more than 600 out of 10,000 projects were ghost, Sen. Gatchalian and I estimated that six per cent or higher of 30,000 projects could mean P180 billion or higher went to ghost projects,” he said in an interview with radio dzBB.
“Imagine, we likely lost P180 billion to ghost projects and we have not yet started counting our losses to substandard projects,” he added, noting that this renders minuscule the number of projects uncovered and tackled so far by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, which he chairs.
Lacson also detailed the corruption behind substandard and ghost flood control projects in privilege speeches last August and September.
The Senate leader further noted that the P110 billion “returned” by former Department of Public Works and Highways district engineer Henry Alcantara last week was a “pittance,” even if he is expected to return an additional P200 million in the coming weeks.
He also assured that the Blue Ribbon Committee remains committed to investigating all irregularities. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
