Over ₱180 B likely lost to ghost flood control; COA flags ₱6.45-B projects

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo "Ping" Lacson said on Wednesday, Dec. 3, that more than P180 billion has likely been lost to ghost flood control projects dating back to 2016, not counting substandard ones.

- By DHEL NAZARIO and CZARINA NICOLE ONG-KI

On the other hand, the Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) over 747 “unusable or idle” infrastructure projects that cost the government P6.45 billion due to improper supervision and monitoring in 2024.

Lacson said he and Senate finance committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian arrived at this estimate based on some 10,000 projects inspected so far, where more than 600 were found to be ghost or nonexistent.

“We are looking at 30,000 flood control projects since 2016. If we extrapolate based on earlier findings that more than 600 out of 10,000 projects were ghost, Sen.

Gatchalian and I estimated that 6 percent or higher of 30,000 projects could mean ₱180 billion or higher went to ghost projects," he said in a mix of English and Filipino in an interview on DZBB radio.

"Imagine, we likely lost ₱180 billion to ghost projects, and we have not yet started counting our losses to substandard projects," he added.

He noted this renders minuscule the number of projects uncovered and tackled so far by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, which he chairs. Lacson had also detailed the corruption behind substandard and ghost flood control projects in privilege speeches last August and September.

Lacson had also shared observations that the P110 billion "returned" by former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) district engineer Henry Alcantara last week was a "pittance," even if he is expected to return an additional ₱200 million in the coming weeks.