MANILA, Philippines — Public Works Secretary Mark Villar has ordered the creation of a task force to probe the alleged anomalies in projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) following President Rodrigo Duterte’s corruption claims.
The DPWH Task Force against graft and corruption will probe “anomalies in the agency based on valid complaints,” Villar said in a Department Order dated Oct. 17.
The task force will be chaired by DPWH Assistant Secretary Meljohn Versoza, head of the agency’s Legal Services and Special Concerns unit.
Secretary Villar creates DPWH Task Force against graft and corruption pic.twitter.com/dfFO9c0eyo
— DPWHph (@DPWHph) October 20, 2020
Internal Audit Service Director Gliricidia Tumaliuan-Ali will serve as vice-chair, while serving as members are Human Resource and Administrative Service Director Michael Villafranca, Officer-in-Charge Director, Stakeholders Relations Service Andro Santiago, and lawyer Ken Edward Sta. Rita.
The task force is expected to recommend to Villar’s office appropriate actions to be taken against erring DPWH officials and employees proven to have taken part in illicit activities.
In a taped speech aired Monday night, Duterte again lamented how corruption marred DPWH’s projects.
However, he cleared Villar of any wrongdoing as he noted that the Secretary is already rich.
“Karamihan diyan sa DPWH mga project engineers, sa baba ang talaga… Si Villar, mayaman. Secretary Villar, maraming pera ‘yan. Hindi niya kailangan mangurakot. Ang problema sa baba, malakas pa rin hanggang ngayon,” Duterte said.
“Iyang sa mga project sa baba, iyon ang laro diyan. So we might maybe place another structure there — structure to improve the integrity of the projects,” he added
Just last week, Duterte said no infrastructure project could start without any under-the-table deals.
The Commission on Audit recently flagged DPWH’s delayed and unimplemented projects amounting to P101.690 billion.
According to COA, this is “contrary” to the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Republic Act No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act as well as the agreed terms and conditions set for the project contracts.