After President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the realignment of P255.5 billion initially allocated for flood control projects to other government agencies, the Chief Executive clarified that the move does not mean his administration is abandoning its infrastructure agenda.

In the first part of his fifth podcast episode, Marcos emphasized that halting infrastructure projects would stall the country’s economic progress.

“It does not mean that we have given up completely on infrastructure because we cannot. We cannot. If we stop that, we will stop the economy basically,” he said.

Marcos detailed how the reallocated budget would be distributed, with education and healthcare receiving the largest shares.

The President said P26 billion will go to the Department of Education, while the Department of Health will receive P29 billion for medical assistance programs, including the Medical Assistance to Indigent Patients (MAIP) Program.

Meanwhile, P60 billion will be given to PhilHealth to expand coverage of health benefits, and more than P39 billion will go to the Department of Agriculture.

Modern tech to safeguard budget

In an era of advancing artificial intelligence and digital systems, Marcos said he has received several suggestions to enhance government efficiency while ensuring data security.

“I haven’t seen any AI that specifically geared towards that,” he said. “Blockchain is something that could work.”

Blockchain is a digital system used to securely record information, with each entry forming a “block” that cannot easily be altered or erased. Its use was popularized through cryptocurrencies.

Bring back rules

Drawing from his experience as a local executive, Marcos renewed his call for local officials to verify infrastructure projects before accepting them as completed.

“What has happened has been – that we have violated the rules. Those rules exist and simply we don’t… In the last decade, they stopped following the rules,” Marcos said.

He recalled that during his time in local government, he refused to sign completion forms for projects that were unfinished or substandard.

“At some point, they come back to the local government executives and say, ‘It’s done. We’ve finished the project.’ We’ll inspect it now. If we see that it’s not good, that you didn’t do it right, I won’t sign the acceptance [form]. If I don’t sign the acceptance by the local government, the contractor won’t be paid,” he said.

“The contractor will be called, ‘Look again. You didn’t do it right. Fix it. When you fix it, I’ll sign it, you’ll get paid.’ That was the system back then,” he added.

The President lamented that the process was removed during the previous administration.

“They removed that entirely. I was shocked. I was shocked because this is the standard procedure. This is like – you don’t think about this anymore,” he said.