EDITORIAL — Systematic looting

Beyond firing erring public officials and prosecuting crooks, the nation must aim for meaningful institutional reforms as the scandal over flood control projects continues to unfold.

People are deeply dismayed by the continuing revelations about thievery in government agencies, it seems at all levels from top to bottom. Do people join the government mainly to enrich themselves at public expense, through every illegal scheme imaginable?

At the Senate yesterday, Blue Ribbon chair Panfilo Lacson disclosed yet another racket in the scandal-ridden Department of Public Works and Highways, where several district engineers have already been fired over anomalous flood control projects. Lacson, also the Senate president pro tempore, said even junior DPWH personnel charged contractors a fee per page of bidding documents.

Meanwhile, three sacked DPWH engineers face another sanction: a 90-day suspension of their driver’s license by the Land Transportation Office. This was after the LTO learned that the engineers had entered casinos using fake driver’s licenses to skirt the ban on government employees playing in gambling facilities.

The LTO must find out if any of its employees whether regular or contractual might have produced those fake driver’s licenses. Surveys in the past years have ranked the LTO as a runner-up among the most corrupt government agencies, after the three most notorious: the DPWH, Bureau of Customs and Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Apart from DPWH officials and employees, Commissioner Mario Lipana of the Commission on Audit faces a probe for possible conflict of interest. It was learned during a budget hearing for the COA that Lipana’s wife Marilou Laurio is the president and general manager of Olympus Mining and Builders Group Philippines Corp., which won 11 flood control contracts worth over P1 billion in Bulacan from 2023 to 2025.

The COA has been under fire for failure to properly audit the substandard and ghost flood control projects particularly in Bulacan. Lacson, in a privilege speech, said 0.5 to 1 percent of a project cost went to the COA as kickback.

Also facing probes are resigned DPWH chief Manuel Bonoan and his daughter Fatima Gay dela Cruz along with Mayor Rene Maglanque of Candaba, Pampanga and daughter Macy Monique along with Sunshine Bernardo, daughter of former DPWH undersecretary Roberto Bernardo.

The three daughters are reportedly corporate officers of MBB Global Properties Corp., which has bagged questionable flood control projects. Apart from being president of MBB, Macy Maglanque, it turns out, has bagged an appointment as labor attaché in a plum posting, Los Angeles. Yesterday, the Department of Migrant Workers announced her recall from the US.

The looting of public funds appears systematic. Stopping it and preventing its return require lasting structural reforms.