District engineer's casino addiction spawns ghost projects

EYES WIDE OPEN

- IRIS GONZALES

Just when you think it can't get worse, it just does. A former district engineer (DE) in one of the cities in Bulacan, notorious for spearheading ghost projects, is said to be addicted to casinos and to have incurred massive gambling debt.

On one night alone, this ex-DE lost P150 million in a sprawling casino somewhere in the southern part of Metro Manila.

Wow. Talk about two of our most pressing problems unraveling in one person.

This DE, frustrated contractors attest, used their licenses — with a promise to give them five percent of the project cost — to facilitate the release of funding for various flood control projects.

These flood control projects were supposed to be built somewhere in Bulacan, usually in areas where monitoring was difficult.

The projects, however, never materialized. And this has been going on for years, according to contractors.

Contractors attest to this ex-DE's casino addiction, saying it was the reason why many of the projects within his district never materialized. He used the funds meant for infrastructure projects for his gambling addiction.

This whole thing is so wrong on so many levels.

First, what's a government official like a DE doing in a casino? Second, how could this be going on without checks and accountability?

My contractor source, however, said this isn't unusual—congressmen, DEs and contractors are all in cahoots to pocket taxpayers' money meant for flood control and other projects. Some contractors are forced to play this game to bag these multi-million peso contracts.