Duterte still trusts Villar despite alleged corruption in DPWH — Palace

MANILA, Philippines — Public Works Secretary Mark Villar still enjoys the “full trust and confidence” of President Rodrigo Duterte despite the alleged corruption in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Malacañang said Thursday.

In a pre-recorded speech aired Wednesday night, Duterte decried the alleged massive corruption in the DPWH, saying that part of project expenses for infrastructure goes to corruption.

The President, however, did not go into the specifics of his claim.

“Full trust and confidence po (si Presidente) kay Secretary Villar dahil despite the corruption in DPWH, naka-deliver po si Secretary Villar,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised Palace press briefing.

(The President has full trust and confidence in Secretary Villar because despite the corruption in DPWH, Secretary Villar has delivered.)

“It helps na mas marami pang pera ang pamilya ni Secretary Villar kaysa sa DPWH,” he added.

(It helps that the family of Secretary Villar ir richer than DPWH.)

Roque said it is also possible that Duterte would order the investigation of the alleged anomalies in the DPWH like he did with the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

“Posibleng gawin po ‘yan pero hayaan na muna natin ‘yan dahil sa ngayon po nakatutok pa sa PhilHealth ang Presidente,” the Palace official said.

(It is a possibility but let us leave it for now because the President is still focused on PhilHealth.)

During state-run PTV’s Laging Handa Public Briefing, Villar said the agency will take Duterte’s claim as a “challenge” to further institute reforms against corruption.

“May mga nagawa na kaming reforms katulad nung monitoring systems. Ngayon po lahat ng ating mga proyekto may geo-tagging so malalaman po natin kung anong kondisyon ng projects,” Villar said.

(We have already done reforms like the monitoring systems. Now all our projects have geo-tagging so we will monitor the conditions of the projects are.)

“Siyempre mas magiging strict pa kami. To date, almost 30 contractors na ang na-blacklist namin. This is one of the highest numbers of blacklisted contractors but we of course take the challenge of the President and we will continue to fight harder to stop corruption,” he added.

(Of course we will be stricter. To date, we have blacklisted almost 30 contractors. This is one of the highest numbers of blacklisted contractors but we of course take the challenge of the President and we will continue to fight harder to stop corruption.)

EDV