DPWH expands livestream of project bidding
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will expand the livestreaming of the bidding process of projects in a bid to promote transparency.
Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon on Tuesday said that the agency would post all livestream links on its social media pages for the public to access.
While all biddings at the central and regional offices are already livestreamed, Dizon said the policy would now cover the district offices.
The ongoing probe of anomalous flood control projects have so far uncovered either “ghost” or substandard undertakings emanating from the district office level.
As Dizon lifted the suspension of procurement activities for locally funded projects under the agency, a memorandum order dated Sept. 16 provided preliminary measures that must be followed during the conduct of the bidding process, which included its livestreaming.
Dizon added that the DPWH would start this in the procurement process for the multimillion-dollar Bataan-Cavite interlink bridge project.
“If the DPWH [personnel] will be the only ones monitoring this, there might not be enough scrutiny. If we can do something for the public to be aware of this and keep an eye on the projects of DPWH, I think monitoring will be strengthened and corruption in the past will not happen again,” Dizon stressed.
New undersecretaries
At the same time, President Marcos has appointed five new undersecretaries of the DPWH.
Taking their oath administered by Dizon on Sept. 29 were: Arrey Perez, undersecretary for operations in charge of convergence projects and technical services; Arthur Bisnar for regional operations; Charles Calima Jr. for special concerns; Ricardo Bernabe III for the Office of the Secretary; and Samuel Rufino Turgano for legal services.
The DPWH also signed on Tuesday a partnership agreement with the Blockchain Council of the Philippines (BCP) to boost transparency and accountability in national infrastructure projects.
The DPWH and BCP committed to launch Integrity Chain, a blockchain-powered platform which aims to provide a real-time public dashboard that tracks progress on infrastructure projects, such as the bidding, planning and awarding.
The DPWH said the platform also allows the public to scrutinize the projects and report anomalies and tampering of records.
Dizon said its pilot implementation would begin with the foreign-assisted projects as their funding and documents were already vetted by multilateral and international organizations.
Dizon said he expected “greater transparency” now that the agency had partnered with the private sector on the use of blockchain technology.
ICI-AMLC cooperation
Meanwhile, the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) signed on Tuesday a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for cooperation in the ongoing investigation of alleged anomalies in flood control projects.
The pact was signed by retired Supreme Court Associate Justice and ICI Chair Andres Reyes Jr. and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Eli Remolona Jr. as chair of the AMLC.
Representatives of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Insurance Commission, both AMLC members, likewise took part in the signing.
Unprogrammed funds
“As you may know, the ICI is still very young. We have been in existence for only 15 days, with just four lawyer-volunteers carrying the weight of a tall task. Yet despite our size, our mandate is broad: to investigate irregularities, demand accountability, and restore integrity in public infrastructure. This is why the assistance of the AMLC is both timely and indispensable,” Reyes noted.
In Congress, ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio on Tuesday urged Malacañang to “stop washing its hands off the corruption allegations” relating to infrastructure projects implemented under President Marcos’ watch.
Tinio noted that majority of the projects funded under unprogrammed appropriations (UA) in 2023 and 2024 went to “favored regions” now being flagged for anomalous and ghost flood control projects.
“It is only the President’s discretion that determines how UA (funds) are used,” he said.
Citing official data from the Department of Budget and Management, Tinio disclosed that the DPWH received P61.4 billion in unprogrammed funds in 2023 for 1,889 projects, and P153 billion in 2024 for 1,811 projects.
This means that, in these two years alone, the President approved 3,770 public works projects worth P214.4 billion from unprogrammed funds.
In 2023, the top regions that got the largest share in UA were: Central Luzon, with 283 projects worth P11.7 billion; Bicol with 138 projects worth P7.6 billion; and Central Visayas with 170 projects worth P7.2 billion.
In 2024, Mimaropa got the lion’s share of UA with P29.4 billion for 201 projects, followed by Central Luzon again with P25 billion for 285 projects, and then Metro Manila with P16 billion for 181 projects.
At least a third of these funds for both years went to flood control projects. —WITH REPORTS FROM MARY JOY SALCEDO AND KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING
