No More Hell Run By Filipinos 7: Turning A Blind Eye To Corruption

Could 2025 be the year that broke the DPWH? Probably not, but since July there has been a bright light shining on that corrupt bureaucracy because of all the recent flooding. It started with Marcos addressing the issue during his SONA.

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/954016/flood-control-sona-2025-marcos/story/

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has served notice to government personnel who steal public funds, such as those for flood control projects, that they will be dealt with under the law.

"Recently, I inspected the impact of the Habagat and typhoons Crising, Dante and Emong. I see that many flood control projects are sloppy and others are just illusions," Marcos said during his fourth State of the Nation Address.

"Let's not pretend, the public knows that the projects are being scammed. There is a kickback, initiative, SOP, for the boys. So to those who conspire to steal the public funds and steal the future of our people, be ashamed of your fellow Filipinos," said the President in his speech, which received a standing ovation.

''To those who conspire to steal the public funds and steal the future of our people, be ashamed of your fellow Filipinos," said the President in his speech, which received a standing ovation. Shame on our houses that were washed away or submerged in the flood. Shame on our children who inherited the debt when you pocketed the money,'' Marcos added.

He then tasked the Department of Public Works and Highways to submit a list of flood control projects in the last three years.

The President said there will be a regional monitoring committee that will examine the projects to see their progress and if they exist.

"We will publish this list so that the public can see it," he said. "At the same time, there will be an audit and performance review of these projects to check and make sure and to know how your money was spent."

"In the next few months, the culprits that emerge from the investigation, including the complicit contractors, will be charged throughout the country. The people need to know the truth, there must be someone to answer for the great damage and corruption," he said.

The reported death toll due to the impact of Tropical Cyclones Crising, Dante, Emong, and the Southwest Monsoon or Habagat has increased to 31, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said on Monday.

In its 6 a.m. report, the NDRRMC said most of these fatalities were reported in Metro Manila with nine.

This was followed by Western Visayas with six; Calabarzon with five; Negros Island Region and Northern Mindanao with three each; two in Central Luzon; and Mimaropa, Davao Region, and Caraga with one each.

A total of 6,276,280 people or 1,751,776 families were affected by the bad weather in all regions except Eastern Visayas.

A state of calamity was declared in 192 cities and municipalities following the flooding in parts of the country triggered by rains brought by the Southwest Monsoon.

Climate action group Aksyon Klima Pilipinas earlier called on lawmakers to conduct a legislative inquiry into the status and implementation of flood control projects nationwide and their effectiveness in mitigating flooding in their respective areas.

After this speech it was as if Congress had suddenly woken up to the fact that the DPWH is the most corrupt bureaucracy in the entire Philippine government. But this has been known for years. 

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1798594

He said the agency’s corruption often happened during the implementation of road projects. District engineers (DE) reportedly connived with politicians, including the representatives of the Lower House.

That assessment is from March 2019 but we can dig further and see that the DPWH has always been wracked with corruption. From 2007:

https://www.philstar.com/cebu-news/2007/01/22/381277/dpwh-adopts-code-sms-stop-graft-corruption

To curb graft and corruption, the Department of Public Works and Highways reminded all its officials and employees to strictly abide by the recently approved DPWH Code of Conduct for Officials and Employees.  

The agency formulated the code in support of the government's thrust to stop the practice of graft and corruption among public agencies. This is the first time that the officials and employees of a government agency themselves made their own code of conduct to follow.  

DPWH is known as among the most corrupt agencies of the government. In fact, surveys conducted by the Social Weather Stations, always include DPWH in the top five list. In the 1999 and 2000 survey of the SWS, it was tagged as the most corrupt among government agencies

The DPWH wrote their own code of conduct and their employees have not even abided by it. 

It's really no secret that the DPWH is the most corrupt organization in the Philippines. The real question is why this has been allowed to go on for so long? I have been writing about the DPWH for years. Here they are not paying their workers back in 2019.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2019/08/dpwh-not-paying-its-workers.html

Let's not pretend that the Philippine Congress suddenly cares about corruption in the DPWH. Many of them and their friends have been on the take for years. Right now there is a lot of noise but soon that noise will die down and the DPWH will be out of the spotlight giving them more freedom to conduct business as usual. It is business as usual that has created the hell being run by Filipinos.