Building a bridge? Post it on Facebook—Ralph Recto

Senator Ralph Recto is suggesting the posting on Facebook of government projects to help in the monitoring of their cost and progress, if any. RICHARD A. REYES/INQUIRER FILE

Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto is urging the government to open a Facebook (FB) account for every government infrastructure project so that people can track its progress and monitor its implementation.

Recto said FB is “free, easy to open, simple to maintain, and not hard to access.”

“If there’s a proposed bridge in a town, then the field office of the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) can open an ‘FB Group on the Construction of Juan de la Cruz Bridge,’ adding there details such as the cost, timetable, name of contractor, and approved budget ceiling,” he said in a statement on Monday,

And with most mobile phones nowadays functioning as cameras too, the senator said it would be easy to upload pictures showing construction progress on the FB group account.

“If there’s no progress, then the photos would capture it as well,” said Recto.

“The beauty with Facebook is that if there’s a post saying it is proceeding as scheduled, then you can ‘like’ it. If there’s a photo showing no work has been done, then you can share it. Either way, you can comment to give your praise or displeasure. Pwede ka sumama sa ‘unlikers’ (You can join the unlikers),” he further said.

With government spending billions of pesos annually to monitor and evaluate taxpayer-funded projects, Recto said, “there’s one untapped, free and effective tracking tool, and that’s Facebook.”

“Ang daming consultants sa monitoring. Mistulang United Nations ang mga bansang may grants dito. Meron rin namang open source for project monitoring,” he said.

A Facebook account, he said, is also “an app against underspending.”

“Kung nasa approved national budget na ang isang proyekto, pwede nang buksan ng FB account (You can open an FB account for a project that is already in the approved national budget) . The meter must run the moment it makes it to approved the General Appropriations Act. In clocking progress, that should be zero hour,” Recto said.

He said bringing monitoring online, though a popular social site, would allow more people to be involved “unlike the traditional methods of divulging project details.”

“Kung yung usual karatula lang yan or tarpaulin sa project site mismo, yung dumadaan lang ang nakakakita. Paano kung isang irrigation reservoir sa bundok na unggoy lang ang nakatira? Meron bang makakabasa ng billboard doon?” he asked.

Recto said Facebook will also be an effective tool in measuring the delivery of non-infrastructure projects, like school and hospital equipment.

“Para doon sa hindi gagamitan ng semento, FB is the keyhole through which we can peep if they’re being done right and on time. Kung farm tractors at ibang farm equipment, halimbawa, pwedeng mag-open ng isang account per region at doon i-post ang updates,” the senator said.