SENATE Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano questioned the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) over the verification of allegedly ghost flood control projects, saying only 10 of about 400 projects initially flagged as nonexistent had been verified.
Cayetano said the figures could mean the initial estimate was wrong, the remaining projects had been covered up, or that the truth lies somewhere in between.
“If there were initially 400 ghost projects and only 10 have been verified, what does that mean?” Cayetano said in a Facebook livestream. “Either what was said before — that there were 400 — was really wrong and people were just angered, or the 390 have been covered up, or somewhere in between.” Cayetano called on the DPWH to provide a clear accounting of flood control projects in every congressional district, including the total number of projects, those already verified and those found to be ghost projects.
He said establishing which projects were nonexistent should be the government’s first priority in addressing anomalies in the flood control program.
“That’s why the first thing we are asking the DPWH to solve is the ghost projects,” he said.
Cayetano said the government must first establish what happened to the projects before introducing new transparency measures or simply promising tighter monitoring in the future.
He also questioned why some areas appeared to be receiving greater scrutiny than others. He cited Taguig City, where he said all 107 projects had been inspected individually.
The senator said transparency portals and other monitoring mechanisms would not be enough if the government failed to identify and address existing problems.
He recalled that when the controversy erupted, he suggested a simple verification process in which district engineers, barangay officials and other local authorities could document projects using mobile phones and compare them with government project lists.
“By now, you should know which ones are ghost projects and which are not,” he said.
Cayetano said the government could not simply ask the public to monitor projects going forward without first determining what went wrong.
He said the issue ultimately goes beyond the flood control program and reflects the need to restore integrity in government.
“If we want to fix our government, it’s not about the sinner. It’s about the sin,” Cayetano said.
He urged government leaders to acknowledge mistakes and correct them rather than allow wrongdoing to recur.
“Let’s make integrity central to us. I’m as imperfect as any of you,” he said. “As I say it to you, I say it to myself.”
