DURING the term of former President Rodrigo T. Duterte a government body was created for the purpose of monitoring potential corruption in the implementation of government projects. It was the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC). When the new administration took over in 2022, the incumbent President decided to dissolve the PACC.
Despite the dissolution, however, there is a group calling itself Philippine Anti-Corruption Council (?). We assume that it is organized by concerned private citizens to assume the abandoned responsibility of the defunct Commission. And we are certain that their work related to preventing corruption is purely voluntary; that it is for the benefit of the Filipino nation.
“We can only hope that the flyover project in the mentioned area will only stay as a ‘monument of a failed planning’ and not a ‘monument of corruption’ by some people in the Public Works Department.”
When we first heard about its existence we did not give much thought about it. But yesterday the name of the private group surfaced. We learned from a Facebook post that the top officials of the group have conducted an inspection on the still unfinished Maa-Diversion Highway-Magtuod road flyover project. The inspection team, led no less by the group’s chair, claimed it found the project as one monument of “failed planning.”
Other than that, the team said the project has a lot of deficiencies not only in its structural aspect but also in the safety and apparent intentional delay in implementing the project. Imagine having found the workers without the necessary gadget that will ensure their safety in the workplace!
Besides, according to the inspecting team, there were only seven laborers doing their assigned jobs at the time of the inspection! The inspectors also noticed that the failure of the contractor to attain the desired status of the implementation has caused several business establishments to close shop, one of which is a gas station.
The same group also found out that the structure has been the immediate cause of several vehicular accidents in the project site, not to mention the humongous vehicular traffic the whole day.
We believe that these findings by an independent monitoring team need to be officially advised to the concerned government agency that is spearheading the flyover project implementation. On the other hand, the same findings must be presented to the contractors for them to comment on and address the deficiencies before it becomes too late.
We can only hope that the flyover project in the mentioned area will only stay as a “monument of a failed planning” and not a “monument of corruption” by some people in the Public Works Department.
There are strong indications, however, that point to the prevalence of corruption in that particular project. First and foremost, there is that unmistakable sign that there is corruption because if there was none, then how come the personnel of the agency seem dead silent on the project completion’s delay. Why did they wait for those billboards where the alleged reasons of the delay were inscribed, all of which are too damaging to the DPWH?
It was from there, the recent noise of corruption in the government’s flood prevention project, and later the invitation by the Davao City Council for representatives from the DPWH and the utility companies to shed light on the issue that seemed to have goaded the government infra agency to come out with its justification.
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Lawyer Nicholas Kaufman, lead defense counsel of former President Rodrigo Duterte in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands is calling on supporters in the Philippines to intensify efforts to call for a negotiation with the Philippine government to facilitate the former President’s return to the Philippines.
This Kaufman did even as he announced that the former Philippine leader has already secured a host country for his interim release prior to his eventual return to the Philippines. He, too, said he has already written a letter on his proposed plea to the government but has not received an answer so far.
We have no idea why Kaufman is resorting to negotiating with the Philippine government to facilitate Duterte’s release. What would that make of his earlier boast that he can have the former leader released from his present incarceration because, according to him, the ICC has no jurisdiction on Duterte?
And what will that make of the defense claim that it was the Philippine government that virtually handed over the former President to the ICC? Isn’t negotiating for the help of the administration tantamount to admitting that the administration merely complies with its obligation under the Rome Statute?
Anyhow, if the government agrees to facilitate, then maybe it is one indication that it is willing to give rapprochement to warring Philippine politicians for the benefit of the Filipino people.
We can only hope that something positive will come out of this move by the Duterte defense lawyer.
