PBBM's fight against corruption: He cannot do it alone

In his last State of the Nation Address, President Marcos ordered an audit of all flood mitigation projects, and an initial review by the Department of Public Works and Highways revealed that of the P545-billion public funds allocated for all flood control projects nationwide in the last three years, P100 billion or almost 20 percent went to only 15 contractors.

- AMBASSADOR B. ROMUALDEZ

Of late, the President has been going on a nationwide fact-finding mission to see for himself the extent of corruption in infrastructure projects.

To many's astonishment, the President admitted that he is "getting very angry" at non-existent or "ghost" projects in places like Bulacan that were reported as completed — yet not even a single hollow block was put in place.

The President decried the public funds that have gone to waste because of corruption, characterizing it as "economic sabotage."

People appreciate the President's clear-eyed focus in getting to the bottom of things and inspecting them himself.

When I told him that he may be spreading himself too thin — after all, he is no spring chicken — the President simply answered: "I took on this job — I have to do what I need to do."

I have no doubt President Marcos will see this through to the end.

He has made that commitment to himself when he first got into politics.

Being born under the sun sign of Virgo —he is a perfectionist with keen attention to detail.

Flooding has been a perennial problem in this country, and no one doubts corruption in flood control projects has been in existence for decades.

It's not a question of poor infrastructure but a deeper, systemic problem that involves corruption, which is why the issue has never been completely solved.

President Marcos really wants to do as much as he can in the last three years of his term to address problems that are also aggravated by too much politics and politicking.