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Civilian-led probe into public works mess launched


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Civilian-led probe into public works mess launched



MANILA, Philippines—A coalition of mayors is linking arms with the Catholic Church and other religious and civil society groups to initiate a citizen-led probe into the massive corruption in public infrastructure projects that is seen to lead to the filing of more cases against those behind the irregularities.


Mayors for Good Governance, led by Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong, along with DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon and representatives of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Caritas Philippines and the Taongbayan’s Action for Participatory, Accountable and Transparent Governance (Tapat), launched the initiative on Friday through a memorandum of understanding.


The group said that this would be another oversight system that could complement the efforts of the government’s Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) by flagging anomalous projects through data-sharing and visualization as well as community-mobilized inspections and monitoring.


 In a press conference on Friday, Bishop Colin Bagaforo of Kidapawan City, Cotabato said that the Catholic Church would tap its social action arm to offer manpower of volunteers from various dioceses to serve as eyes and ears to questionable infrastructure projects in various areas of the country.


“Through our social ministry, we will help in monitoring the projects found to be ghost or substandard,” said Bagaforo, who is also president of Caritas Philippines.


 He added that CBCP and Caritas Pangatlo are ready to “rally volunteers who would go around and check on projects.


The efforts of the church people would then be reported to other members of the initiative, said Bagaforo.


Victorio Lorenzo of Tapat said that the idea behind the partnership is “for the citizens to also own the audit procedure and establish conversations with parishes” about purported anomalies in their areas.


This, he added, is a “venue and opportunity for people to channel their anger [on corruption] into a productive, sustainable audit and demand accountability.”


The civic group plans to form a data-gathering team that can collate information from the DPWH and the General Appropriations Act, said Lorenzo, adding that it would “triangulate the priority areas.”


Tapat also plans to partner with more organizations that can help it visualize and “make sense” of the data it would gather.


According to Magalong, who would take the lead among the mayors in the initiative, the findings of the probe could result in more complaints to be filed against conniving government officials and private firms.


“But should they develop a case, it would be better if they refer it first to the ICI,” he told the Inquirer on the sidelines of the event.



 




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