DPWH cleansing looms amid flood anomalies

Expect a massive purge in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Secretary Manuel Bonoan said yesterday, as allegations of involvement of many of its officials and personnel in corruption in the implementation of flood control projects continue to unravel.

- By Emmanuel Tupas and Neil Jayson Servallos

In an interview with dzBB radio, Bonoan vowed to hold accountable DPWH officers and personnel who would be found responsible for substandard and ghost flood control projects. He said appropriate criminal charges would be filed against them.

"We will see who are involved in these inferior and ghost projects. And I think we have to cleanse up the organization if necessary," he said.

On Friday, Bonoan announced that officials of the district engineering offices of the DPWH in Bulacan, including its head Henry Alcantara, had been relieved of their posts and placed on floating status.

Bulacan appears to be the province with confirmed ghost projects, according to Bonoan.

In Oriental Mindoro, what had been flagged were projects of inferior quality, he pointed out.

The DPWH chief has rejected calls for his resignation, saying his fate is up to President Marcos, whose scathing remarks against corruption in flood control projects have touched off public outcry.

In the interview, Bonoan also said they have mechanisms in the DPWH for monitoring infrastructure projects, but admitted there are flaws in it, including their not requiring the central office to regularly conduct an audit of the work of field offices.

"We have monitoring. Well, it's just basic information we are receiving. And field valuation done from the central office is sporadic," he said.

As the central office is unable to validate all projects, it usually relies mainly on reports and pictures of supposedly finished products sent by field offices, which have their own auditors.

Bonoan said he has instructed DPWH officials to report if they are getting external pressure to approve certain projects.

Senators warned

Meanwhile, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said his Senate colleagues and not just members of the House of Representatives may be implicated in anomalies in flood control projects.