BY ALEX ALAGON
IN WITNESSING through television coverage the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee investigation into the highly anomalous and graft-ridden flood control projects, we noticed some developing scenarios. These tell the Filipinos there is more to come out other than unmasking the erring contractors and certain officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
For example, during the recent Senate hearing, Davaoeño Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa questioned the controversial contractor firm owner Sara Discaya when her firms started dealing with the DPWH on flood control projects. Ms. Discaya’s answer was “since 2016.”
Earlier in the same hearing, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada asked Ms. Discaya when she started buying luxury vehicles that are now part of her family’s fleet of luxurious cars. Discaya’s answer was “as early as 2018 or 2019” with a number purchased starting in 2022.
Also very noticeable is the intriguing silence of Sen. Mark Villar. He was the DPWH secretary from 2016 until his run for the Senate in 2022.
Then came this report yesterday, again as an offshoot of the ongoing Senate probe. According to the report, a firm owned by the Discayas has entered into a partnership with a Davao City-based contractor company for the construction of flood prevention projects worth over P860 million in Davao City.
With this initial probe outcome, what will the more discerning Filipinos read in unwritten messages that may have been delivered by these developing probe scenarios?
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So, the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) leadership is confident it can continue maintaining the accolade of the City as one of the safest in Southeast Asia?
With what DCPO Director Col. Annan Muarip is doing, encouraging the people in the community to engage themselves in peacekeeping activities, we totally agree with him. That is, the local police could sustain the image that for some years already, Davao had such a reputation.
And then the DCPO Director has followed the footsteps of former police Chief, then Col. Michael John Dubria, in building a solid police relationship with the people in the city’s various communities. Dubria went on to become the number 3 man in the police organization with the rank of Lt. General. He is now retired but still works in a police-connected agency.
Besides, Colonel Muarip appears to have gotten the trust and confidence of Davao City Acting Mayor Baste Duterte. With the mayor’s support, Muarip can be certain of his success in retaining for the city the honor of being top among the safest in the Southeast Asian region.
On this endeavor, the DCPO director deserves every Davaoeño’s support.
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Sen. Panfilo Lacson raised in the Senate the question of the absorptive capacity of the first district of Davao City for flood control projects that were provided funds amounting to P51 billion.
According to the senator, he has no way of imagining how a single district can have so much need for flood control infrastructures when the need may not be that much.
Well, the senator may have ordered his people to scour the whole of Davao City’s first district because, based on his statement in the Senate, he appears certain that the district may not have that much need for flood control projects.
Indeed, the former Police National director-turned senator had commissioned his people to study the terrain of the first district; chances are, he could be correct in his question about where the projects could have been implemented.
After all, there are only three major waterways in District 1. And these are the Davao River, which exits in Bucana; the Pangi River with exit in Matina Aplaya; and the Talomo River that emanates from somewhere up in Baguio district down to Calinan, then to Los Amigos, to Tugbok, and finally exiting in Barangay Talomo in the first district.
There are also some low-lying areas in the first district that are sometimes inundated with flood waters when strong rains in the upstream fall for a long time.
Probably these are the reasons why Lacson questioned the absorptive capacity of Davao City’s first district.
We wonder if the Senator will push for the inclusion of the flood control projects in the city’s first district in the ongoing Senate investigation on that burning issue.
