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AMID the multi-billion-peso corruption scandal on flood control projects mostly in Luzon and the Visayas, potential graft-laden projects on road concreting, asphalt over-laying, bridge construction, as well as building schools in various public elementary and secondary educational institutions are either overlooked or intentionally “dumped” down the drain of forgetfulness.

For one, that long completed concrete span connecting Catalunan Grande of the first district and Tacunan of the third district in Davao City. Another is a 30-meter-long unfinished concreting of the road from the Crossing of sitio Banarao and sitio Camanse in Talandang, Tugbok district. The road concreting was from sitio Luman, New Valencia, going up to the Talandang-Banarao road.

The thoroughfare is roughly six meters wide, but very clearly, the width in some stretches barely reaches five meters. The worst part, however, is that an estimated 30 meters of the entire stretch have remained a gravel road. And it is in that portion where the Luman-Camansi road intersects with the concreted Talandang-Banarao Road.

Sadly, the concreting project was reported completed several years back. Unfortunately for us, we could no longer remember who the contractor of the said project was.

Similarly situated is the 15 or so meters long concrete bridge spanning the creek that separates Tacunan and Catalunan Grande. The Tacunan end of the bridge does not have the approach from the Tacunan Road to connect to the long-finished bridge. In the same manner, the Catalunan end of the span is provided with an approach, but it has not been in tangent with the road leading to Catalunan proper.

For the nth time, we have been asking through this space what agencies were responsible for the implementation of the two mentioned projects. Is it the now-perceived notorious Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) or the City Engineer’s Office (CEO) of the local government of Davao City?

Unfortunately, however, we and the rest of the people of Davao City are not given even just an iota of courtesy by the people of both the Regional and District offices of the DPWH, as well as by the CEO. They maintain complete silence on the question we raised. Are the executives of the two agencies of government – local and national – too afraid that by answering the people’s question ,it may open a can of worms?

And there is this other thing that the proponent agencies of both mentioned projects may possibly be extra careful about, the agency concerned is fully aware that the two projects have long been fully paid. So they’d rather not talk about it anymore or stand the risk of getting caught in their mouths.

Of course, compared to the magnitude of the amount involved in the flood control projects, the two mentioned herein are just peanuts. Yet, the fact remains that some personalities involved in its implementation may have benefited one way or the other.

And the amounts involved, large or small, do not really matter. But the two projects, no doubt, are venues for corruption.

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We were all ears to Sen. Panfilo Lacson when he delivered a privileged speech at the Senate session the other day.

In the same speech, the senator, who is a former Director General of the Philippine National Police, exposed in detail the manner in which the shenanigans of what the Senator termed as BGC, not the Bonifacio Global City, but the Bulacan Group of Contractors.

Lacson detailed the speed with which the involved District Engineering Officials processed the payments of an equally lightning-fast supposed completion of the various phases of the flood control projects implemented by the contractors awarded the projects. In fact, in a particular flood control project, the first phase was supposed to be completed in over three months, but was billed as finished in only two days since the work on that particular phase had started. And the payment? Well, the vouchers with all the approving officials, already having signed, were processed, and the check was collected in only a week’s time.

Senator Lacson then proceeded to chronicle the trips of the District Engineering officials led by no less than their boss, Engr. Henry Alcantara, to the various Casinos using assumed names, backed by a driver’s license, the corruption “stakeholders” apparently acquired legitimately.

And Lacson, being a top policeman once, managed to document all his discovered secret schemes of the BGC members. Their individual losses in the different Casinos, their supposed winnings, and how much money they cash in, in exchange for casino chips, and how much they cash out from the chips they purchased.

And the BGC boys have the guts to have a group picture of themselves taken with the Casino façade as background.

Towards the latter part of the senator’s privilege speech, he came out with a kind of bombshell. And that was the exposé of the owners of a firm that is registered as the owner of a construction company with a huge amount of contracts with the DPWH. The holding firm bears the initial MMB. According to the Senator, the initials stand for Maglanque, Mercado, and Bonoan. The last two are those of DPWH Undersecretary Mercado and DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan.

With all those explosive revelations, what are you now, gentlemen and honorable members of the Senate, going to do? Definitely, all eyes and ears of the Filipinos are on you and the Senate in general.

FINALLY, the Davao City Council has created an Ad Hoc body to oversee efforts at helping resolve whatever bars that are hampering the completion of the Maa-C. P. Garcia Diversion Road flyover project.

For certain, Davaoeños are happy with this development. And it is everyone’s hope that the body will be able to facilitate the resolution of issues that have surfaced only recently when certain sectors in the city decided to make public their concern on the long overdue project in billboards erected on strategic locations within the unfinished project’s vicinity.

In relation to the issues, we cannot help but resurrect once more what we had been harping on in this space for years already.

We are referring to a bridge about 15 meters long spanning a creek that divides barangays Catalunan Grande in the first district and Tacunan in the third.

The bridge itself was completed some three years ago. But it cannot be used as the Tacujnan end of the span does not have the necessary approach. On its end at the Catalunan side, the approach road has already been provided. Unfortunately, however, it has not been connected to the main road.

Despite our repeated haranguing on this issue in our column, not a single reaction came from the most likely agencies of government ever came out. We had been calling the attention of the Department of Public Works and highways (DPWH) Region XI, and the City Engineer’s Office.

We are assuming that the bridge project could either be that of the national government, or that of the local government of Davao City. Also, our suspicion is that either the DPWH or the CEO, if one of these offices is implementing the project, may be facing the same road-right-of-way problem that is hampering its full completion and utilization.

But no, we did not get any reaction from the two agencies. Sometimes we already started suspecting that no one cares to read our column. Luckily, though, we got comments on some other issues. And the reactions did not only come from Davao City residents but from as far as the Visayas and the National Capital Region. We assume that the reactors read about the issues we tackled in our column through this newspaper’s online edition. But in the case of the unused Tacunan-Catalunan Grande Bridge, we have not gotten any, not even a whimper.

So, it is our take that the officials of the DPWH and the CEO may have started to develop calluses on their faces, or deafness and muteness are already creeping on their ears and mouth.

Anyhow, why cannot the newly created Ad Hoc body created to help settle issues on the Maa-C.P. Garcia Flyover project expand the coverage of its responsibility to include looking into the problem nagging the Catalunan Grande-Tacunan Bridge?

To make sure the members of the body can have a better appreciation of the issue, why cannot they find time to visit the place? It is only a little over a kilometer away from the house of First District Rep. Paolo Duterte.

Who knows they might discover? It might be one of those projects long-fully paid and reported completed but actually not.

Or, if it would not be too much, why cannot any auditor of Commission on Audit XI or the one stationed at the city government visit the project area? With such a visit, we might lose the idea that the auditors are only doing table auditing and looking into documents prepared by the contractor of the project.

O, this is one other “system” resorted to by corrupt public officials in cahoots with greedy contractors that leads to corruption in our country becoming “systemic.”

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One thing that we can boldly say as a major mistake the President made while delivering his 4^th State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) was when he lambasted those officials, primarily members of Congress, for being largely responsible in the prevalence of corruption – big time at that.

His erroneous line was, “Mahiya naman kayo.” What would have been correct is, “Mahiya naman tayo.”

Why? Clearly, even if the President is not a party in the big-time money making ventures of concerned lawmakers and other officials, especially from the DPWH, he still cannot escape with clean hands and clear conscience.

Yes, with the implementation of hundreds of billions worth of projects that have become the milking cows of corrupt government officials, certainly the President cannot escape involvement under the doctrine of “Command Responsibility.”

Also, there is something he might have missed out in his scrutiny of his selection of who among his Cabinet Secretaries to be re-appointed after they tendered their courtesy resignation.

Now, it is clear to the public who the Cabinet Secretaries and other heads of offices’ resignation he should have accepted.

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ROUGH CUTS | These other venues of corruption

ROUGH CUTS | Will this Ad Hoc body work?