Malacañang: No cover-up in Taguig ghost projects

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang has called for a deeper probe into alleged ghost projects in Taguig City, assuring the public that there would be no cover-up in the government’s continuing investigation of anomalous flood-control projects.

Palace press officer Claire Castro made the statement after Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon gave conflicting findings into the questioned flood control projects in Taguig City.

Castro said she spoke with Dizon, who clarified that he was referring to confirmed ghost projects when he was asked by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano during the budget hearing on Friday.

Dizon said there were no “ghost projects” in Taguig, the bailiwick of the Cayetanos.

Lacson, who exposed the supposed ghost projects in Taguig, then said DPWH’s own records show one of the city’s project sites geotagged in Leyte province, which is 600 kilometers away from Taguig.

“He is neither confirming nor denying their existence. He has clarified this point, and a more thorough investigation is needed and there will be no cover-up,” she added.

Castro said the DPWH is currently investigating the coordinates.

Dizon clarified that he has not cleared Taguig City on ghost infrastructure projects, saying the DPWH has flagged cases of anomalous projects in the locality, but these are still undergoing further validation and investigation.

During his testimony, Dizon said he meant that there were none “conclusively” found as ghost or non-existent projects in Taguig City.

“Now is the time for me to explain this fully,” Dizon told reporters during an inspection of a flood control project in Talomo, Davao City yesterday morning.

“I was asked: how many projects have been conclusively found to be ghost projects in the whole country? My answer was 10. And there was a follow-up question: of those 10, are there projects in Taguig City? My answer was ‘none,’” Dizon said. “That was the full context.”

“So maybe, we should not draw conclusions prematurely because the investigation is still ongoing,” Dizon said. “We are validating continuously.”

Lacson warned Dizon of criminal liability if he helped cover up the alleged ghost projects in Taguig. — Rainier Allan Ronda, Marc Jayson Cayabyab