DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Coinciding with the floods that struck Davao City, a House representative is seeking the Ombudsman to investigate the flood control projects under First District Representative Paolo Duterte.
ACT Teachers Party-list Representative Antonio Tinio on Tuesday filed a complaint to the Ombudsman seeking a “thorough investigation” on some of Duterte’s projects that amounted to P4.4 billion.
Duterte rebuffed Tinio’s call for investigation, calling this “selective” and said the projects had already been checked by government agencies.
Paolo Duterte has drawn controversy during the flood control probe last year, as it was revealed his district cornered P51-billion in infrastructure projects between 2019-2022, the highest received in a single district in the history of the Philippine legislature.
The Davao legislator, son of former President Rodrigo Duterte, claimed that records from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Region XI showed that infrastructure projects from 2020 to 2022, totaling around P49.84 billion, were completed and met or exceeded standards.
“These include roads, drainage systems, bridges, and other public works that Dabawenyos continue to benefit from today,” Duterte said in a statement.
But Tinio said his party’s initial investigation found red flags in some of these projects, such as overlapping projects, redundant entries and inconsistencies.
He pointed out that the largest contractor for the First District project was Genesis 88 Construction, a company owned by Glenn Escandor, a former sports adviser of former President Duterte.
Genesis 88 received 10 contracts worth P 713 million, while five other contractors accounted for 53 percent of the projects reviewed.
“Dapat imbestigahan dahil may mga red flag. May mga marka ng anomalya ang mga ito, (These red flags need to be investigated. There are traces of anomalies),” Tinio said.
“We did due diligence in examining these contracts and asking (from the Ombudsman) an investigation based on the data we have gathered,” the party-list Congressman added.
He added that they are asking the Ombudsman for “physical verification” to determine how many of these projects are deemed “incomplete” and “100% complete but on-going,”
Tinio said that are seeking the Ombudsman’s probe after the Independent Commission on Infrastructure formed earlier by the president has ceased operations in March without resolving the cases in Davao City.
Duterte challenged Tinio to visit Davao to see his projects. “The structures exist. They are serving the people. They are not ghosts,” he said.
Yet, Davawenyos are divided over this issue, as seen in the recent floods in the past months that have inconvenienced them and disrupted their lives.(davaotoday.com)
