Photo from Department of Public Works and Highways Facebook page
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) should be given the chance to cleanse its ranks and weed out what President Rodrigo Duterte called “rampant” corruption in the agency, Malacañang said Tuesday.
Public Works Secretary Mark Villar created a task force composed of DPWH officials to investigate alleged anomalies in the agency following Duterte’s corruption claims.
“Siguro po pang-unang hakbang lang iyan na ginawa ng DPWH para nga i-address iyong problema ng korapsiyon na nilabas ng ating Presidente, so pagbigyan naman po natin sila,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised Palace press briefing.
(This could be just an initial step fo the DPWH to address the problem in corruption that our President exposed, so let’s give them a chance.)
“Let’s give them a chance dahil sa aking pagkakaalam eh talagang this is one of the rare moments na ina-address natin ang korapsiyon diyan sa DPWH na ang sabi nga ni Presidente ay lantaran at parang systemic,” he added.
(…because as far as I know, this is really one of the rare moments that we are addressing the corruption in the DPWH, which the President said is too blatant and appeared to be systematic.)
The President first bared the alleged corruption in the agency last week, saying that no infrastructure project will start without any under-the-table deals.
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 DPWH secretary is already rich.
The Commission on Audit (COA) also 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.