I watched Vince Dizon, the recently designated head of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), answer the same question I wanted to ask him but which was this time fielded by ABS-CBN’s Karen Davila in her podcast: What would government do with the needed flood control projects that were wasted by corrupt government officials and contractors? Dizon said the government will find ways to “un-waste” (that word is mine) the projects. I agree with that because the people in the country need those flood control projects, especially now that “La Niña” is visiting us. But those corrupt government bureaucrats and contractors should be the ones to spend money to upgrade the projects’ standards if these have already been implemented or to pursue them if these are “ghost projects.”
I have been monitoring social media, but reports on flood control and other wasted infra projects in Cebu are few and far between. I have seen photos of some of these projects but local media seem not too eager to follow up on how these anomalous projects came about and who are behind these. One photo showed an upright wall being built on the foot of a waterway. It wasn’t even formed like a dike but was so upright one could already predict what would happen to it once the raging waters ran through it.
These photos reminded me of those times when I was a student of the Cebu City National Science High School in Labangon. We lived in B. Rodriguez Ext. at the back of the old TB Pavilion, a not-so-ideal place if you study at the Science High campus in Labangon. You either ride twice going to Labangon from B. Rod, or you have to walk–first crossing the river to Barangay Calamba, then crossing the Calamba cemetery to the back of the Labangon Elementary School, which is near the Sci High campus. In the end, I got so used to cutting classes and spending time in cheap downtown theaters that our adviser had to visit our place unannounced to investigate and talk with my parents. That was when I was caught and had to quit school. But that is a good topic for another column altogether.
But back to those wasted flood control projects. Every time I see on social media or television the predicament of families who endure the daily flooding in their places, I feel pain. Predicaments that the poor endure were what once prodded me to leave college and go underground instead. I am older now, and after two arrests, I have mellowed. But the cycle of government corruption, people’s anger, a little good governance, then back to government corruption seems unstoppable. In some communist countries, the punishment for government corruption is the firing squad. But I take it that corruption is still a problem there.
But back to Dizon. I hope he does well in remedying the problems brought about by these anomalous flood control projects. It’s a big task but with public opinion now focused on finding ways to stop the corrupt implementation of flood control projects, the task would at least be a bit lighter.