Mafia-like DPWH

Our readers can’t understand why officials at the DPWH and, of course, the government and the administration aren’t acting to resolve the massive corruption in this Cabinet department.

It is not reassuring that President Bongbong Marcos Jr. in his fourth SoNA lambasted the corrupt men and women of his administration with the words, “mahiya naman kayo” (have some shame).

He followed up his desire to get rid of the Mafia in government in an interview where, I sensed, the second Marcos to be President had come to realize that to get things done, to save his sagging popularity, he must exert a strong will and determination to live up to the expectations of the citizenry.

Let’s note that the P20 per kilo rice was topmost among his election promises. Among many other concerns, a corruption free and efficient bureaucracy, better livelihood opportunities, improved health and PhilHealth coverage ending in zero billing, peace and order were expected from PBMM when he was elected in tandem with VP Sara Z. Duterte of the UniTeam.

While we can conclusively cite Trade and Industry Secretary Cris Roque and DoH Chief Ted Herbosa as two clean officials, we can’t say the same for the others unless we are given validated info. And the DPWH is topmost in the area of corruption.

The recent massive flooding for weeks produced unwanted deaths and injuries, devastated productive farms, infrastructure and private property despite spending, wasting or pocketing a staggering P1.2 trillion of taxpayer money since 2009. The funds appropriated for flood control increased by leaps and bounds. In 2015 it was P42.2 billion; in 2024 it rose to P244.5 billion. In the 2025 budget it is P254.29 billion which represents 32.1 percent of the P1-trillion budget of the DPWH in the GAA.

Imagine that amount as we relate how massive corruption has been going on for years and the Senate and the House haven’t done anything to address the malady. With no end in sight, we can easily come to the conclusion that perhaps the keepers of the purse are part of the massive loss of taxpayer money.

If the loss to government thieves was spent to generate income and livelihood for the 4Ps beneficiaries, this country would have been better off and institutionalized mendicancy would have been reduced. We are talking here of P1.2 trillion which benefited only a few DPWH officials.

To go back to how corrupt the officials running the DPWH are, let me cite here just a few of the things the representathieves, regional directors, district engineers, assistant secretaries, undersecretaries, the chief or secretary are involved in. These are the scandalous overpricing of erosion control contracts, cat’s eyes, and guardrails on highway curves and risk areas.

For instance, on erosion control, DPWH used mostly netting instead of shotcrete. Despite spending P46.61 billion on this project on Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao mountain roads and highways, boulders and other earth materials slid down onto the road pavements due to erosion or the failure of the rock netting works done by DPWH engineers and contractors.

Figures culled by Baguio City Mayor Benjie Magalong showed that in 2018, netting was overpriced by P17,000 per square meter (sqm) yet greed increased the take further up to P25,000/sqm. Contractors confided to Magalong that they were tired of delivering kickbacks in suitcases to the politicos-cum-contractors.

More next week.

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