Estrada: Ghost flood control projects can’t prosper without COA’s help

LONGTIME WOES. Residents wade through a flooded main road in Barangay Frances, Calumpit, Bulacan, after days of heavy rain. Photo taken on July 31, 2023. — INQUIRER PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada said no ghost flood control project in the country would prosper without the involvement of the Commission on Audit (COA).

In an ambush interview with reporters on Wednesday night, Estrada also said the Senate blue ribbon committee should invite COA representatives to the next hearing on the anomalous flood control projects.

READ: COA orders fraud audit into flood control projects in Bulacan

“A ghost project will not prosper without the cooperation of COA,” Estrada said in Filipino.

His remark came after Sen. Panfilo Lacson revealed in a privilege speech on Wednesday afternoon that funds for certain projects are divided based on “greed” from both the public and private sectors, leaving only crumbs for actual implementation.

Lacson said at least 0.5 to 1 percent of a flood control fund goes to the COA.

Estrada, meanwhile, admitted he was not aware of how the so-called pie-sharing works but maintained that COA was involved in such a scheme.

“We don’t know, I don’t know. As for me, I believe that a ghost project will not prosper without the help of COA,” he said in Filipino.

Estrada also thinks the Senate blue ribbon panel’s investigation would still take a long time.

“Maybe this will even reach 10 hearings because of the scope of anomalies,” he said in Filipino.

READ: Heads will roll in faulty flood control works, warns Marcos

Earlier, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. revealed the top 15 contractors that had secured most of the government’s flood control deals.

Seven of these firms attended the blue ribbon panel’s hearing, while the remaining eight will be subpoenaed to appear before the Senate in the next scheduled probe./mcm