Duterte tells agencies to publish details of infra, irrigation projects in newspapers
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered agencies to publish details of infrastructure and irrigation projects, including their status and winning bidders, saying it would help with detecting collusion among agencies and contractors.
Duterte said the public deserves to know how much the government would spend for the projects and what companies would undertake them.
"Kindly agree with some of the newspapers, the leading ones... perhaps it will be three pages long, the projects of irrigation, Department of Public Works and Highways, transportation. Although I don't interfere with the work of secretaries, I want to know the projects, the bidders... and the contractors who won the bidding," he said during a public address delivered from Malacañang last Monday.
"Perhaps it won't exceed five pages. We will buy (space). Just do a merry-go-round (among newspapers)... All of them. The people should know. You will know the costs of projects undergoing bidding... the winning bidders...so you can see for yourselves. You can go there and see what kind of projects are being done. That is the rule," he added.
Duterte also directed agencies to publish a list of completed projects. Such a list, the president claimed, would allow the public to identify possible collusion among bidders and officials.
"I have a list of these devils. People will know the estimated (cost of) projects, how much is the winning bid, to whom it was awarded to, and for how much." he said.
"If it's a P50 million (project), dinive mo ng P30 (million), may konsabo 'yan (You lowered it to P30 million, there is collusion there). So what do you expect (from) a 30-million project?"
Duterte said the publication of project details would help prevent questionable deals.
"Something must be terribly wrong there. That's why you have a project that it's really not a project but supposedly a project but already bidded out and constructed and completed. Another page for completed projects," the president said.
Late last month, Duterte vowed to implement stricter procurement measures to ensure that public funds won't go to corruption. He instructed agencies to disclose all procurement plans even for small items like paper clips.
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