THE taxpayers’ money lost to corruption is huge. That’s none debatable. It is divided and pocketed by many people in government. How much percentage is waylaid on a project sponsored by a congressman or a senator? Most of them have their own favored contractors. This practice is nationwide. The SOP (it means standard operating procedure) will depend on how greedy the solon is. President Rodrigo Duterte once made a revelation of this obnoxious practice. There are too many sticky fingers in government bureaus that get a slice. From certain people at the Department of Budget and Management and down to several divisions of Department of Public Works and Highways. If no centavo is lost on every government project we can even have our roads paved with gold.
Now, look the conditions of our roads, pockmarked and most of the time traffic lights are not working. No road signs even, advising where a vehicle can only turn left or right. No wonder we have a high figure of traffic accidents. To prove my point, just navigate the stretch of MacArthur Highway from Angeles City to San Fernando. The condition of this road is terribly wanting in overhaul or maybe a stronger asphalt overlay. Not patch work, please. Three days of rain, the fillings will only get scattered and dangerous to motorists particularly to bikers. When can we have a smooth ride? We can experience that in our dreams, said my friends from Monday Club.
In the Clark Freeport, when it was headed by former Department of Transportation and Communication Secretary Jose “Ping” De Jesus as chairman and Noel Manankil as president the roads were being widened and work was on schedule. I remember asking then Clark Development Corporation Vice President Alveen Tabag, the guy in charge of the infrastructure projects and he said the whole stretch of M.A. Roxas will be overlayed with asphalt for the motorists smooth ride. De Jesus, Manankil, Tabag and other officials resigned in succession. And since they left office the infra projects stopped. I pointed out already in a recent column about those unfinished portions on M.A. Roxas which remained unacted for several months now. What’s happening President Manny Gaerlan?
I wish to point out also that the freeport surroundings now need cleaning up. Noticeable is the wild grass on both sides of many roads and including the parade ground where joggers and bikers are doing their exercises. Someone leaked it to me that there are certain irregularities being committed in the bidding process of infrastructure projects, which maybe not known to President Gaerlan. One contractor won in biddings four times but the project was never awarded to their company. The bidding was always declared a failure until it was awarded to a favored contractor. I hope this situation will either reach Malacanang or can be subjected to an investigation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee so that it can be corrected.
***
Despite the pandemic which has been raging for almost two years now, the construction of two big hotels inside Clark Freeport is continuous. Royce Hotel new building maybe be finished this year while WIDUS annex which will be named Hann Hotel Casino may open its doors by October. I remember this Korean guy Daesik Hann when he first invested a small amount in Widus some years ago. Now only after few years his investment is already worth close to P15 billion.