‘I’m not disappointed, I’m angry’: Marcos blasts unfinished P55-million ghost project
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is no longer just disappointed with the dismal state of flood projects in Bulacan. He is angry.
Continuing his manual inspection of flood control programs, Marcos found one alleged ghost project after another. In Baliuag, Bulacan, he checked a supposed concrete river wall project, only to discover nothing was built.
“Kahit isang araw hindi nagtrabaho. Wala. Wala kang makita. Puntahan ninyo, wala kayong makita kahit na ano. Tuloy-tuloy ang pagbaha doon sa kabila,” Marcos said on Wednesday.
(Not even one day of work. None. You can’t see anything. Go to it, you will not see anything. Flooding stills persist on the other side.)
“I’m not disappointed, I’m angry,” he said.
The said project in Baliuag is equal to around P55 million and was completed in June. The project was also supposed to be 220 meters long.
In a media interview during the inspection, Marcos said the project involved several layers of subcontracting, which authorities are still trying to trace.
However, the Presidential Communications Office released a copy of two different receipts issued by SYMS Construction Trading, saying that the project is complete.
Marcos noted that the act of marking the project as finished counted as falsification on the part of the Department of Public Works and Highways officials who supervised the area.
Despite the project being valued at half a hundred million, the receipts were handwritten.
Marcos initially said that economic sabotage charges were possible, but later revised this to graft charges.
In a later Facebook post, Marcos said that the river wall he inspected in Bulacan was not in the Department of Public Works and Highways’ list of submitted flood projects.
He then asked: “Why was this hidden?”
The president ordered the suspension of officials who authorized the Bulacan project, as well as the filing of graft and malversation charges against them.
Marcos has also ordered the blacklisting of the SYMS Construction Trading, saying that they will face charges under the Revised Penal Code.
The crusade against faulty flood management projects stemmed from the president’s declaration during his fourth State of the Nation Address that he would go after corrupt government officials.
Marcos has since unveiled his preliminary findings: despite nearly half a trillion pesos already spent on flood control projects, the Philippines continues to sink in floods.
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