The newly appointted DPWH Sec. Vince Dizon is facing a gargantuan task of thoroughly overhauling the graft and corruption – ridden department. It would be easier to simply excise the agency and transfer its functions including its budget to other departments or devolved to the local government units.
But it is easier said than done. If President Marcos says he is angry, the people are angrier and are demanding for blood.
Early in the probe by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee the people realized that the grand thievery of the government’s treasury through DPWH started in 2022. The officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways, from Secretary Manuel Bonoan down to the District Engineers obviously saw the indecision and weakness of President Marcos and the penchant of his cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez, in creatively chipping out money from allocated and unprogrammed funds for charter change, ayudas and AKAP among them. They took advantage of these and thought stealing peoples’ money in government coffers is as easy as eating pie.
Most of the contractors of the flood control projects had been there prior to the Marcos administration. The Queen of Flood Control Projects, Sarah Discaya, said she started operating in 2016, meaning Duterte’s term. Upon hearing this testimony, a jerk in the House of Representatives quickly demanded to investigate flood control projects in Davao City.
Some contractors in fact had been in operation as far back as Pres. Noynoy Aquino. Like Discaya, they were mostly dealing with local governments then.
It was not until 2022 that the top 15 contractors, which are all based in Metro Manila and Luzon, blazooned into an exclusive billionaires club. And they unabashedly flaunt their wealth even at the height of incessant floods, destructions and misery of affected communities.
The profits from ghost and substandard flood control pfojects are in billions of pesos! It was like they hit the mother lode, the Discaya couple went on and registered eight more construction firms which, based on her own testimony often bid on the same project with the knowledge and tacit approval of DPWH officials concerned. She wins all the time and with no sweat at all.
In 2024 the mafia aimed for a grand slam. The House of Representatives submitted to the Bicam an enrolled general appropriation bill containing 17 blank pages of budget allocations. It was meant to be filled up by the discretion of the Office of the President. This was however denied by Marcos himself who claimed he personally reviewed the lengthy 4,057-page document. Unfortunately for him, a copy of the enrolled bill landed on the lap of Davao Congressman, Isidro Ungab, who lost no time in elevating the case before the Supreme Court.
While the case languished in the high court the mafiosos continue to bleed the treasury. We never comprehended why the government has to borrow more money to prop the government bureaucracy. Then came the wrath of mother nature. Rains poured for 40 days and 40 nights creating devastating floods, enundating shoddy revetments of river banks that were supposed to contain the rampaging water.
Marcos must have a Damascus moment. He braved the rains to look for the flood control projects which he was confident were 5,500 in all. What he discovered were ghost projects and in disgust had a feat of anger.
Newly appointed DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon lost no time. He proceeded with his task of cleansing the murk in the department. In a visit of a ghost project in Bulacan undertaken by Wawao Construction firm, a furious Dizon announced the termination of the District Engineer and filing of criminal and administrative charges before the Ombudsman and trial courts. “Hindi gawa ng tao ito. Gawa ito ng hayop”.
I am certain that the thunderous and searing voice of Secretary Dizon will continue to reverberate into all nooks and corners of the country especially in the bedrooms of the insatiable contractors and other characters who connive with with each other to fleece the government coffers of the last centavo of taxpayers money.
This is an opportune time for the country to rebuild and get rid of every “hayop” as described by Dizon. Especially the high-profile politicians among them. Already, one of these characters who not long ago truts like untouchable in the House of Representatives, had left the country. Good riddance even as we hope that the long arms of the law will ultimately catch up with you.
