Military flags more than 250 ‘ghost’ public works projects
The Armed Forces of the Philippines said it had identified 252 “ghost” flood control projects out of the thousands it was asked to inspect to help build up criminal cases against officials and businessmen linked to anomalous public works contracts.
The military inspected 10,000 flood control projects approved from 2016 to present, and found 252 of them to be nonexistent. It will check 20,000 more similar projects and submit its findings to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).
“It turned out that the total of around 252 of these that we have inspected are ghost projects from 2016 to present,” AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said at a briefing.
She did not provide details on the “ghost” projects, such as their costs or locations.
AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. is part of a technical working group on asset recovery and case buildup under the ICI, which is investigating allegations of collusion among senators, congressmen, public works officials and private contractors to pocket billions of pesos from flood control projects.
“We continue to conduct inspections on our end to fulfill the requirement to inspect all assigned projects,” Padilla said.
‘No particular region’
The 125,000-strong military, which conducts inspections together with members of the Philippine National Police, is consolidating reports on the nonexistent projects for submission to the ICI, she said.
“We cannot really home in on a particular place or region. But rest assured that we will be providing a complete report to the ICI to facilitate and fast-track their investigation,” Padilla said.
Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon tapped the AFP and PNP to conduct the inspections.
Soldiers and policemen fanned out to project sites based on government coordinates and conducted on-site assessments, including physical verification, documentation, and photo evidence.
‘Boodle fight’ with Marcos
Meanwhile, Brawner said the AFP would just tone down its 90th anniversary celebration in view of the public’s indignation over the corruption scandal.
Officials earlier planned to hold a parade and showcase the AFP’s latest military assets, but decided to just hold a simple program consisting of an awards ceremony and a “boodle fight” or shared meal with the President.
The program is tentatively set for Dec. 15.
“We will keep it simple for two reasons: First of all, our country has gone through many calamities,” Brawner said. “The second reason is because of the ongoing corruption scandal, and because we have seen that millions—billions have been stolen from our government, we could no longer have a bongga (grand) celebration because we want to save money.” —WITH A REPORT FROM JOHN ERIC MENDOZA
