POLITICKING, collusion, and corruption among contractors, local government officials, and public works officials remain as major causes of delays in the implementation of public works projects, says Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson.
In a frank discussion with journalists attending the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism’s (PCIJ) basic investigative reporting seminar for Mindanao journalists, Singson said while reforms in the DPWH have resulted in P18.4 billion in savings, a lot still has to be done to curb corruption in the agency.
For example, Singson said that while the DPWH is trying to stick to a pre-programmed list of critical government projects, he gets a lot of political pressure to insert pet projects by some officials.
“Our listing of projects now is very objective, and it is critical sa amin na tapusin ang primary roads,” Singson said. “Pero may lalapit sa amin, sasabihin, pwede ba gamitin nalang yan sa tapat ng bahay ko.”
(Our listing of projects now is very objective, and it is critical to us to finish the primary roads. But some official will come to us and say, can you just use the project to cement the front of my house?)
Singson says the DPWH intends to have all 31,000 kilometers of national roads cemented or rehabilitated by the time President Benigno S. Aquino III steps down in 2016. As well, Singson says they intend to have permanent bridges constructed for these national roads by that year.
Another major headache, Singson says, is pressure put on winning contractors by local officials to force them to subcontract the project to their favorite contractors. Local officials do this by refusing to issue building and other local permits to contractors unless the project is shared with favored subcontractors.
“The propensity is pagbigyan ng contractors si Congressman, si Governor, o si Mayor, para i-subcontract ang project sa mga tao nila,” Singson said. “Ang problem is that some of these are not even licensed contractors.”
(The propensity is for the contractors to give in to demands by Congressmen, Governors, or Mayors to subcontract the project to their own people. The problem is that some of these are not even licensed contractors.)
“The reality is that this is still happening until now,” he added.
“The problem is that the contractor ay hindi bibigyan ng construction permit ni Mayor kung hindi contractor ni Mayor ang gagamitin,” Singson added.
In fact, Singson said he has had several contractors come to him complaining and crying about these practices. However, Singson said he cannot do anything else except to ask the contractors to go through the proper process.
“Pag ang contractor, iyak ng iyak sa akin, sabi ko, huwag mong ipa solve sa akin ang lahat ng problema mo,” Singson said. “Hindi raw sila makakuha ng construction permit, o ng quarry permit, dahil ayaw sila bigyan ng permit ni Mayor.”
(When the contractor comes to me crying, I tell them don’t ask me to solve all your problems. They say they cannot get construction permits or quarry permits, because the Mayor won’t give a permit.)
Singson also acknowledged that the DPWH still has internal problems of corruption and collusion between public works officials and contractors. District engineers, for example, are allowed to approve projects up to P50 million, with an engineering district having up to half a billion pesos yearly budget.
“So you can imagine how powerful these district engineers are,” he said. Some district engineers resort to a chop-chop technique,wherein they can break up a P200 million project into five separate projects o that they retain approving authority.
DPWH regional directors, on the other hand, handle up to P3 billion pesos a year, with an approving authority for P150 million per project. “Kaya nga pinagtatalunan yan eh,” Singson said, meaning people are fighting for these positions.
While these officials handle magnificent sums of money, they are only paid P56-70,000 a month, making corruption a very real problem, he said.
Some local politicians have in fact gotten so comfortable with DPWH officials that they almost treat them as their own employees, Singson said. “Minsan dinidiretso ko si Congressman, kasi sasabihin niya, bakit mo nilipat ang district engineer ko? I say, sa amin po iyan, di po sa inyong tao iyan.”
Singson said their reform program involves ensuring the right projects are implemented by the right people at the right cost, with the right quality. For example, he said that the DPWH has to give priority to its own program, despite pressure put on it by local and national politicians.
As for project quality, Singson said the DPWH is enforcing international construction standards for public works projects. This, he says, is the reason why the cement being laid out in concrete roads is much thicker now than before.