In order to prevent corruption and curtail the practice of parking funds among district officials, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano said contractors of public projects should be required to submit photos of their construction projects at certain phases of completion.
Cayetano said it is only a practical solution for the government in its bid to curb any corrupt practices at the district level.
“For me, like a practical solution lang, kailangan dapat lahat ng contractor ng DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) mag-submit ng litrato n’ung project zero percent, 50 percent,100 percent (All DPWH contractors should be mandated to submit photos of the project at zero percent, 50 percent and 100 percent),” Cayetano said in a media interview on September 15, 2022.
Cayetano made the proposal after exposing what he called the “expanded fund parking scheme” during a manifestation during the Senate briefing of the proposed national budget by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) earlier this week.
He also urged the DBCC to look into the possible existence of a syndicate behind the illegal realignment of billions of pesos in funds in the budget of the DPWH.
The lawmaker noted that then-DPWH Secretary and now Senator Mark Villar had made it a policy that a congressional district’s budget should more or less be at the same amount so that ongoing projects and continuing programs are sustained.
In an interview on Thursday, September 15, Cayetano revealed that some corrupt officials have turned their practices to rural development projects that are too far from the public eye to be monitored, such as flood control, dredging, and asphalt road constructions.
“N’ung araw kasi hindi naman nilalagyan ng malaking pera y’ung mga liblib ‘di ba? Eh ngayon dahil may rural development tayo, napansin ko any project na hindi mo nakikita, halimbawa flood control nasa ilalim ‘yan o kaya any project na malayo y’ung lugar walang internet, walang media, mas y’un po ang pinagkakakitaan (Before, far-flung places hardly ever get a public works budget, right? But now that we have rural development plans, I notice that there are unseen projects, like flood control under that or any project in places that do not have internet, no media, it seems they earn from there),” he said.
“Y’un y’ung mga favorite na hindi nababantayan so we have to have a practical way na bantayan (those are the favorite projects that can’t be monitored, so we have to have a practical way to monitor those projects),” he continued.
Cayetano said it is imperative for the government to take practical steps from preventing the “parking of funds” from happening, regardless if they are isolated or just rumors from members of Congress holding a grudge because they had received a lower budget.
While exposing such practices may alarm the guilty and force them to hide their activities, prevention should be the priority, the lawmaker stressed.
The senator also expressed hope DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan would look into the issue.
“Bawat bagong administrasyon talaga may nagte-testing eh. Kaya nga napakaimportante na ngayon na umpisa pa lang ng administrasyon, tulungan natin ang administrasyon na wala tayong mapapalusot na schemes, scam, o attempt (Every administration are always tested. That’s why it’s very important that from the start of the administratio, let’s help the administration get rid of these schemes, scam or any attempt to scam),” he said.