Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto To Probe Flood Control Projects in the City
VICO SOTTO – The Pasig Mayor lauded the “Sumbong sa Pangulo” website recently launched by Pres. Bongbong Marcos amid the flood control projects issues in the Philippines.
Pres. Bongbong Marcos previously led the launching of the Sumbong sa Pangulo website. It was crafted amid the height of the discovery of several allegedly anomalous flood control deals in the country. The Chief Executive called on the public to report through the website the flood control projects in their areas and if they see something wrong about the projects.
According to Pres. Bongbong Marcos, he will personally read the reports sent to the Sumbong sa Pangulo website. He stressed that everyone has the civic duties to report to the government what they see is wrong. Previously, in a press conference, the Chief Executive revealed that the country has already spent P545-billion in the government flood control deals.
Marcos Jr. also exposed that 15 contractors got 20% of the P545-billion flood control projects funded by the government across the nation. They are the following:
- Legacy Construction Corporation
- Alpha & Omega Gen. Contractor & Development Corp.
- St. Timothy Construction Corporation
- QM Builders
- EGB Construction Corporation
- Topnotch Catalyst Builders Inc.
- Centerways Construction and Development Inc.
- Sunwest, Inc.
- Hi-Tone Construction & Development Corp.
- Triple 8 Construction & Supply, Inc.
- Royal Crown Monarch Construction & Supplies Corp.
- Wawao Builders
- MG Samidan Construction
- L.R. Tiqui Builders, Inc.
- Road Edge Trading & Development Services
In Bulacan, Pres. Bongbong Marcos called on the contractor of a flood control project after the structure was found incomplete and built with substandard materials. He called on the St. Timothy Construction to explain. The said contractor is one of those which got the most government deals for flood control.
In Pasig City, Mayor Vico Sotto is also on the move to investigate the flood control projects in his city. The Mayor recently lauded the Sumbong sa Pangulo website launched by the government. In a post, the Pasig Mayor stressed that they have obtained a list of the flood control projects in the city through the said website.
Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto said they now have a list of the project titles, costs, completion dates, and locations because of the Sumbong sa Pangulo website. According to him, it is already a huge step as the information that the local government units have are allegedly usually insufficient.
However, according to Sotto, they cannot evaluate the completeness or quality of the said flood control projects with just the information from the Sumbong Sa Pangulo website. He stated that they do not want to make a subjective judgment.
“We want real accountability. Kung kumpleto at maayos naman, eh di mabuti; kung may problema o may kulang, dapat malaman para maaksyunan,” the Pasig Mayor stated.
Based on the post of Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto, they need to access to the program of works (POW) and Bill of Quantities (BOQ) of every flood control project so they can really evaluate each project. He also stated that “documents such as the Detailed Unit Price Analysis (DUPA) and bidding documents (bid docs) may also be worth looking at”.
According to Mayor Vico, they drafted an FOI request to ensure the DUPA and the bidding documents from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Based on the post, through these documents, the Pasig LGU will help the national government probe the flood control projects within its jurisdiction.
Amid the flood control project issues in the Philippines, DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan expressed his thought a possible need to cleanse up the organization.