Senator Ping Lacson
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Monday deplored how the Filipino people have not fully benefited from government projects as 40 percent of the cost of these projects are supposedly lost to corruption by unscrupulous officials and their cohorts.
Lacson said he intends to end this system of corruption if he wins as president in the 2022 national elections and improve the government’s spending for its projects, much of which, he said, were funded by foreign borrowings.
“For example, the government implements a project worth P10 million, but not all 10 million goes into the project. It is reduced by 20 percent, 30 percent, sometimes 40 percent depending on the greed, the gluttony of those implementing it,” he said.
End corruption in gov’t
Lacson, standard-bearer and party chair of Partido Reporma, reiterated his commitment to end corruption in government projects during a weekly online forum while in San Rafael town in Bulacan.
He lamented that while the country’s national debt had ballooned to P11.9 trillion, Filipinos still do not feel the benefits of the government programs and projects that are funded yearly.
According to Lacson, about P320 billion in the national budget are left unused yearly, which, he said, should have gone to investments, infrastructure and livelihood projects.
“Just look around you … especially when you go to the remote villages. Where is our [national] budget going every year?” he said, adding that “neglect and incompetence” of government agencies has been compounding the problem of corruption.
‘We have a huge problem’
“You know, if we don’t feel enraged, and just laugh at the anomalies we see, it looks like we have a huge problem. It’s like we’re letting them get away with it, [saying] ‘that’s just how the system is,’ which I think is wrong,” he said.
During last week’s deliberations on the P5-trillion proposed national budget, Lacson flagged the alleged attempt by the national government to evade compliance of the Supreme Court order, as well as Executive Order No. 138, mandating the full devolution of powers to local governments.
He expressed dismay that many local projects funded under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which used to be implemented by the agency, have remained lodged at the national level and retained the funds for these, when their implementation should have already been devolved to local governments.
Lacson also questioned the duplicate listing of some P147.283 billion worth of projects under the Convergence and Special Support Program of the DPWH, which, he said, could be an attempt for unscrupulous officials to obtain multiple funding for similar projects. INQ