A top business leader is urging the government to package flood control projects by region for competitive bidding among the country’s major conglomerates, in a bid to bypass layers of corruption in project implementation.
Bryan L. Ang, vice president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), said these conglomerates have both the resources and the capability to finance and implement such large-scale infrastructure initiatives.
Under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, Ang suggested that the government could bid out flood control projects by region or in phases. He also noted that the private sector should be allowed to submit unsolicited proposals under a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) arrangement.
“Package a project and bid it out, but don’t give it to just one conglomerate,” said Ang, citing the expressway model currently being used in the Philippines, which involves several major private sector players. “We should go for trustworthy and proven contractors,” he said.
Chua emphasized that this approach could eliminate opportunities for interference and kickbacks, and filter out unqualified contractors. “It is very difficult to audit these flood control projects because they are buried deep down, unlike buildings or bridges,” said Ang, who chairs the PCCI committee on trade and industry.
Currently, flood control projects are often initiated by local government officials and pushed by district representatives for congressional funding. Chua cited a computation by Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, showing that less than 50 percent of government funds allocated to these projects are actually spent on construction, with more than half allegedly lost to grease money, kickbacks or “SOPs.”
One of the most well-received moments in the President’s fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) was his strong condemnation of those profiting illegally from inefficient, unfinished, and ghost flood control projects through “kickbacks, initiatives, errata, SOP (standard operating procedure) for the boys.”
The President pledged to hold these individuals accountable and directed the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to immediately review the current list of flood control projects.
