MANILA, Philippines — Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar finally broke his silence yesterday, saying that finishing all projects the government has started through the department under the Build Build Build program is more important to him than getting credit.
Following a series of memes on social media lampooning the ribbon-cutting spree of the present administration for projects whose blueprints actually came from the previous one, Villar said the ultimate goal of the infrastructure program is to finish all projects that it started.
“For me it’s a waste of time to talk about it. I don’t care about it. I don’t care about the credit, it’s not important. What’s important is to finish the project,” Villar said, adding the DPWH has a list of projects accomplished.
“I don’t want to look back and say that this has not been finished by them because when we enter there are no accomplishments,” Villar said. “We can go back and forth. I can give you a list and can say all these things.”
He said it is also not important to him what administration started the project because he will finish what they have started, and that projects are implemented for completion and not for anyone to get any credit.
“Don’t give me any credit. I will just finish this project. Let’s not talk about credit anymore. I just wanna talk about what projects do you finish under your time,” Villar said, noting some projects were started 20 years ago and remained unfinished.
“When did the R-10 start? That was many decades ago. Maybe it started when I was still in high school and it was not finished,” he added.
Villar said he doesn’t dwell on credit.
“I hope you understand. I don’t want to dwell on credit, which credit goes where… Let’s just talk about what’s going to happen. If someone wants to grab credit, that’s their problem,” he said. “And if you don’t want to give me credit for it, it’s OK. Don’t give me credit for anything. That’s fine by me. I just wanna show you what we will accomplish in the next few years.”