Marcos urged to require DPWH officials to undergo lifestyle check

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. should require all regional directors and engineers of the Public Works department to undergo a mandatory lifestyle check and reveal their assets and net worth statements to expose officials that may have benefitted from anomalous infrastructure deals, a congressman said on Monday.

“If the Marcos administration is truly serious about holding people accountable for the failed flood control projects, then it should order this,” Party-list Rep. Elijah R. San Fernando said in a statement in Filipino. “No one wants to admit wrongdoing in flood control and infrastructure projects, so let’s make them admit it.”

Mr. Marcos, in his fourth State of the Nation Address, ordered the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to investigate flood control projects that failed.

Last week, he revealed that 6,021 flood control projects beginning in 2022 lacked basic details specifying the type of infrastructure to be built, flagging about 50 separate projects that shared an identical contract price of P150 million.

“As storms grow stronger and flooding worsens due to the climate crisis, every peso stolen from flood control projects puts lives at risk,” said Mr. Fernando. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio