MANILA, Philippines — Senator Panfilo Lacson on Wednesday bared several “skeleton” infrastructure projects which are still requesting millions of additional funding under the proposed national budget for 2021.
“There couldn’t be a better illustration of how acts of corruption are committed than by the misuse and abuse of public funds,” Lacson said during the plenary debates in the budget.
“Not anymore by the hundreds of thousands, but by the millions of pesos, wasted during the implementation of the national budget,” he added.
Lacson said he sent out a team to “check and verify randomly” some of the 5,913 “rehashed” projects he flagged earlier in the budget process.
“I’ll present some illustrative samples of how public funds are wasted through some infrastructure projects,” Lacson told his colleagues.
One of the images he presented showed a multi-purpose building in Bacnotan town in La Union, a project which already cost the government P15.6 million from 2017 to 2020.
He said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is requesting another P5 million under the 2021 budget for the project’s “completion.”
“Pray tell. Does this structure is a 400-square meter structure look like it’s worth P15.6 million to you?” Lacson asked.
“Shall we allocate another 5 million for this project in 2021? I think the picture will answer your question,” he added.
Citing his consultation with an engineer, Lacson said the construction cost of a multi-purpose building should only be at P25,000 to P30,000 per square meter.
“This is a 400 square-meter structure. Kung kukuwentahin natin na P25,000, dapat tapos na ito sa P10 million,” the senator said.
(This is a 400 square-meter structure. If we make a computation on the basis that it would cost P25,000 per square meter, the whole project would have been completed with only P10 million.)
“But as I mentioned, naka-gastos na ng P15.6 million. Ayan pa yung itsura. It’s a skeleton structure as we speak,” he added.
(But as I mentioned, we already spent P15.6 million. That’s what it looks like. It’s a skeleton structure as we speak.)
Another project Lacson flagged is a multi-purpose building in Pangasinan where P2 million was already allocated for in 2019.
The DPWH is requesting another P3 million for 2021 for its completion.
The photo Lacson presented showed that only vertical steel beams have been put up.
“Yan po yung itsura. Popondohan ba natin ito ng P3 million?” he added.
(And that’s what it looks like. Will we give another P3 million for that?)
Lacson proposed that the requested funding for the “skeleton” projects be realigned to items that need funding more in the budget such as the National Broadband Program of the Department of Information and Communications Technology.