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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 'Pati ang mga inosente, nadadamay': Ortega says solons shouldn't be lumped together as corrupt

'Pati ang mga inosente, nadadamay': Ortega says solons shouldn't be lumped together as corrupt

Published Aug 31, 2025 03:52 pm

At A Glance

  • House Deputy Speaker and La Union 1st Rep. Paolo Ortega V is up in arms over netizens' tendency to lump up lawmakers into one "corrupt" category as far as the flood control projects mess is concerned.
La Union 1st Rep. Paolo Ortega V (PPAB)
La Union 1st Rep. Paolo Ortega V (PPAB)


House Deputy Speaker and La Union 1st Rep. Paolo Ortega V is up in arms over netizens' tendency to lump up lawmakers into one "corrupt" category as far as the flood control projects mess is concerned.
Ortega, a member of the "Young Guns" bloc, says there are solons who are "innocent" from the controversy.
“Maraming paninira ang makikita natin sa social media, nilalahat ang lahat ng kongresista. Wala namang basehan lahat, walang ebidensya, puro intriga. Pati ang mga inosente, nadadamay," he said.
(We see a lot of attacks on social media wherein all congressmen are being lumped together. All of these have no basis or evidence, just pure intrigue. Even the innocent ones are being linked to it.l
"Basta sa amin sa La Union, malinis ang record natin at walang anomalya sa proyekto sa distrito (As for us here in La Union, we have a clean record in our district and there are no anomalous projects),” Ortega said.
Public anger is at a boiling point as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), contractors, and lawmakers are being accused of colluding with each other in order to pocket massive kickbacks from government flood control projects. This has reportedly been going on for years.
Ortega explained that it wasn't part of the solon's job to identify contractors for the multi-million peso projects.
“Hindi kami pumipili ng contractor. Ang role lang ng kongresista ay ilapit ang pangangailangan ng tao sa pamahalaan. Kung mapagbigyan, DPWH na ang magpapatupad. Napakalinaw ng process,” he said.
(We don't chose the contractor. The role of the congressman is to really the people's needs to the government. If our requests get granted, it's the DPWH that will implement it. The process is very clear.)
The House Infrastructure Committee is set to launch its inquiry on the alleged anomalous and "ghost" flood control projects on Tuesday, Sept. 2.
“Kung imbestigahan man, anytime. Wala kaming tinatago. Ang gusto lang natin ay makita ng tao na ang pondo ng bayan, bumabalik talaga sa kanila,” Ortega said.
(If there's an investigation, anytime. We're not hiding anything. All we want is for the people to see that public funds ultimately get used for their benefit.)
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