Photo: PCO
Corruption has long been the cancer that eats away at the lifeblood of our nation, but nowhere is it more rotten than in the public works sector. The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is once again in the spotlight, tainted with ghost projects, overpriced roads, worthless flood control dikes and substandard bridges that crumble like the very integrity of the officials who approved them. These are not errors. These are deliberate betrayals — acts of plunder committed by engineers, contractors, and lawmakers who have transformed public service into a private cash machine.
The collusion is sickening. In district after district, congressmen dictate projects, while DPWH officials nod and sign, ensuring that the loot flows smoothly into their pockets. What the people inherit are not lasting infrastructures but ticking disasters — floodways that fail, roads that vanish into mud, bridges that break under pressure. Each stolen peso is a coffin nail for the future of our children, a theft of hope from farmers, workers, and students who deserve better.
And yet, the President — who once promised to lead a crusade against corruption — now plays the role of Pontius Pilate, washing his hands as the nation drowns in anomalies. His silence is complicity. His refusal to confront the rot makes him no less guilty than those who steal in broad daylight. Leadership is not about shrugging; it is about fighting for truth even when it is inconvenient.
The people are outraged, and rightly so. Enough is enough. Citizens now demand the passage of a Death Penalty Law for corruption — a law that will finally treat plunder not as mere theft, but as treason against the Filipino people. Alongside this, the public calls for the mass resignation of all DPWH officials — from the Secretary down to regional and district engineers — whose names are tied to anomalies, with their professional licenses suspended so they may never again desecrate their noble profession.
This is not vengeance; this is justice. If public works continue to be built on greed, then the nation’s foundations will always be weak. It is time to tear down the walls of corruption and rebuild with honesty, courage, and accountability. Only then can we stand tall as a people, no longer betrayed by those who swore to serve us.
