Independent probe

SKETCHES

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

Wrap your head around this: a district engineer and a minor functionary of the Department of Public Works and Highways reportedly lost about P300 million each at local casinos.

My math-challenged mind can't grasp how mid-level government officials can amass P300 million on salaries of about P56,000 a month, and toss it away at the gambling tables. I'd be happy to win P3 million in the lottery. It could buy me one of the dozen ordinary cars used as service vehicles in the nine construction companies owned by crazy rich contractor couple Sarah and Curlee Discaya.

These are not luxury cars, Sarah clarified at the Senate on Monday, saying their family owned "only" 28 ultra luxe vehicles and not 40, as originally reported.

Someone asked: why do they need 28 cars? Well, she and Curlee have four children who use the cars, Discaya said, possibly wondering how clueless senators could be. That's seven cars per kid — one for each day of the week. No traffic number coding for the nation's .01 percent.

Truly, the rich are not like you and me.

Discaya admitted that their companies competed against each other in bidding for the same public works projects. Is this sham bidding normal practice in the DPWH? If it is, it must be the same MO in several other government agencies.

The Senate session was revealing, but the sooner President Marcos constitutes his independent commission to conduct an unbiased, credible probe, the better.

While Discaya and other contractors faced grilling, for example, no senator dared question Sorsogon-based Centerways Construction's Lawrence Lubiano, who is under investigation by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for his P30 million contribution to the 2022 campaign of Senate President Francis Escudero.