A Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) official on Monday, Jan. 19, admitted that the validation of alleged ghost flood control projects will have to restart after inspectors were found to have gone to incorrect locations, raising concerns over further delays in resolving the cases.

During the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the anomalous flood control projects, DPWH Undersecretary Arthur Bisnar told Senator Erwin Tulfo that the situation was unavoidable given the scope of the review, which covers around 30,000 flood control projects implemented from 2016 to 2025.

Bisnar said that as of now, only 10,238 projects have been inspected by joint teams from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP). However, he acknowledged that most likely they went to the wrong location, requiring the validation process to begin again.

“Yon po talaga ang magiging sitwasyon natin po (That is really the situation we are facing),” Bisnar said, explaining that errors in locating project sites have slowed down the effort and forced authorities to redo inspections.

He added that out of the more than 10,000 projects already validated, 252 have been declared non-existent. These projects, Bisnar said, will also need to be revisited, along with other flood control projects not included in the initial batch raised during the hearing.

Tulfo earlier questioned the pace of the probe, pointing out that out of 421 cases, only 14 had so far been deemed convincing as ghost projects despite thousands of complaints filed with the Office of the President. He warned that at the current rate, the investigation into flood control anomalies could remain unfinished even beyond the term of the current administration.

Meanwhile, Tulfo is pushing for a unified project planning and monitoring system in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

He made the call after it was exposed that the grid coordinates generated by DPWH from the Multi-Year Programming and Scheduling (MYPS) and the Project and Contract Management Application (PCMA) to locate the ghost flood control projects in the past years were inaccurate.

“It seems po na hindi reliable ang MYPS coordinates. There are certain inconsistencies. Kasi po parang medyo magulo eh. Meron tayong MYPS, merong ika nga para sa PCMA. Ano ba talaga? Hindi ba pa pwedeng isa na lamang na coordinates? (“It seems that the MYPS coordinates are not reliable. There are certain inconsistencies. It’s somewhat confusing because we have MYPS and, as they say, another one for PCMA. Which is really correct? Can’t there be just a single set of coordinates?)” Tulfo asked.

“Kasi magulo ito—through MYPS, we identify the project. Through PCMA, we monitor the project. So, hindi ata tama na magkaiba ang coordinates sa MYPS at PCMA (Because this is confusing—through MYPS, we identify the project. Through PCMA, we monitor the project. So it doesn’t seem right that the coordinates in MYPS and PCMA are different),” he went on.

Tulfo emphasized that the two systems currently used in the DPWH could open windows for corruption.

“Habang may mga grey areas tayo na ganito, yung mga malilikot ang isip, nakakapag-isip ng how to make money because there's a grey area. Dala-dalawa po yung ikang coordinates natin. Pero kung iisa lamang po ito, di wala hong kawala (As long as we have grey areas like this, those with crafty minds can think of ways to make money because there’s a grey area. Our coordinates are doubled. But if there were only one, there would be no loophole),” he said.

Responding to the senator, DPWH Usec. Ricardo Bernabe III agreed that there should only be one planning and monitoring system for infrastructure projects.

“Sobrang agree po kami dyan. Tamang-tama po yung inyong sinabi. Kaya nga po meron po kami ang mga reporma ngayon to implement itong mga bagong systems, to improve the systems. In fact, meron nga po kami ng foreign assisted project to reform this application para nga po isa na lang ang coordinates na gamit po natin (We totally agree with that. What you said is exactly right. That’s why we have reforms now to implement these new systems, to improve the systems. In fact, we even have a foreign-assisted project to reform this application so that only one set of coordinates will be used),” Bernabe said.

In the same hearing, Tulfo urged the DPWH to hasten the verification of the list of alleged ghost flood control projects across the country amid the recent developments in the investigation.

“‘Yan po ang nirereklamo ng mga kababayan natin. Wala pong nahuhuli, wala pang nakukulong. Yun pala, may problema tayo… sa mga wrong coordinates kaya kailangan i-double check po natin (“That is what our fellow citizens are complaining about. No one is being caught, no one has been jailed. It turns out we have a problem… with the wrong coordinates, which is why we need to double-check them),” Tulfo said.

“Habang tumatagal po ito, magkakaroon ng duda yung mga tao na baka may tinatakpan tayo sa sobrang tagal. And I'm sure you've heard of the words or phrase that justice delayed is justice denied. Sa sobrang tagal po nito, ika nga, baka may mga ma-abswelto, magka-aregluhan dahil sa sobrang bagal ho (The longer this takes, people will start to doubt that we might be covering something up because of the delay. And I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase that justice delayed is justice denied. If this drags on too long, as they say, some may be acquitted or settle matters because of the extreme slowness),” he added.