Singson confirms being asked to return as DPWH chief
Former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Rogelio Singson confirmed he was being asked by Malacañang to again head the agency, as it came under renewed scrutiny over corruption-tainted infrastructure projects.
But Singson, 76, on Thursday said he was not inclined to accept the offer for personal reasons.
“I think that will be far-fetched because my wife will leave me already if I go back to government,” he said in an interview on ANC.
He said there were “feelers” from President Marcos for him to take the post. Singson served as DPWH chief from 2010 to 2016 during the administration of then President Benigno Aquino III, after which he returned to the private sector.
“The President and I go a long way when he was still a governor (of Ilocos Norte) and then he became senator. So we’ve known each other in quite a lot of projects together,” he said.
He recently met with Mr. Marcos, he said, not about his possible comeback at the department but about an integrated water resources management program that the President wanted to be fully implemented.
In Malacañang, Palace press officer Claire Castro neither confirmed nor denied reports that Singson was being considered to replace Secretary Manuel Bonoan, saying “Let’s just wait for the decision of the President.”
Last week, Castro said Bonoan still enjoyed the President’s trust and confidence despite the issues hounding the almost 10,000 flood control projects implemented by the agency in the first three years of the Marcos administration.
‘I pity the institution’
Several lawmakers have called on Bonoan to either take a leave of absence or resign while the national government investigates the projects. Bonoan said he would be ready to step down if asked by the President.
Referring to his meeting with the President, Singson said he shared some of his insights because “I pity the institution that I served for six full years. And I pity the many honest and professional engineers who have been bypassed, who are now being maligned just because of a few bad eggs in the department.”
During his stint as DPWH chief, the department completed projects under a flood control master plan amounting to P351 billion, he said.
“That was what should have been followed, but nothing was done with it after we submitted all the master plans,” he added. “We did not abandon it. It’s just in the DPWH.”
The master plan, he recalled, was turned over to his successor when the Duterte administration took over, referring to then Public Works Secretary and now Sen. Mark Villar.
Malacañang earlier said the DPWH did not receive such a master plan when Bonoan took over.
For independent panel
But Singson said he would be more amenable to accepting a role as head of an independent, third-party body that would review DPWH projects.
“I’ve volunteered pro bono all of these suggestions (I made),” he said. “I’ve come out openly about this corruption program only because I had the full backing of the Management Association of the Philippines, [composed of] private sector executives who say enough is enough.”
For Singson, neither the Congress nor the DPWH should do the investigation, but that the review should involve “reliable” engineering companies that can check if the projects were done “within a reasonable amount” and really addressed flooding problems in their locality.
Nongovernment organizations, civil society groups and media should also be part of this third-party panel, he added.
He also urged lawmakers to stop, or at least suspend, their practice of making last-minute “insertions” for flood control projects in the national budget, as they end up funding questionable, shoddy construction work not vetted by experts.
“I challenge the Congress to suspend their flood control projects,” Singson said. “They’re the ones who pass the [national budget law]. They are the ones who are in control of these projects.”
