Secretary Villar: District engineers' designation based on qualifications

Public Works Secretary Mark Villar on Sunday assured the public that district engineers are designated based only on their qualifications and performance.

Villar made the remark amid allegations from Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission commissioner Greco Belgica that some congressmen are “bullying” Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) district engineers, alleging conspiracy among lawmakers, contractors, and district engineers.

In a Dobol B sa News TV interview, Villar said that he does not want politics to factor in the affairs at the DPWH.

"Para sa akin, isa talaga sa mga goals ko ang di mapulitika ang DPWH. Gusto ko merit-based. Kaya ang ginagawa namin, meron kaming grading system sa mga district engineers, sa performance nila, depende sa capacity nila to implement," he said.

"Yun ang basis for promotion, ganun kami. Gusto ko i-professionalize yung department," he added.

While Villar said he appoints district engineers based on performance and recommendation in their operations, he does not let anyone, including lawmakers, to vouch for their preferred engineers.

"Kung meron man [bumubulong], 'di ako nakikinig. Ako performance based lang ako," he said.

"Siguro pwede naman nilang sabihin na magaling. Pero yung influence, hindi naman. Siyempre pwedeng mag-comment na magaling yung district engineer, may ganung hirit. Pero walang bearing sa pagpili ng district engineers," he added.

Earlier, Villar created a task force to look into alleged anomalies entered into by employees and officials, after state auditors flagged over P100 billion worth of delayed and unimplemented projects in 2019.

He said the task force is conducting meetings and gathering pieces of evidence for their investigation, adding that concrete results may be available by next month.

"Ang gagawin namin, siyempre, yung reports and accusations na galing sa hotlines namin pati hotlines ng Malacañang at yun ang ibe-vet namin. May mga complaints na, sisimulan namin...," he said.

"Yung task force titignan nilang mabuti itong mga complaints, maimbestigahan nila, magco-collect na sila ng ibang ebidensya. We have to do that and in the near future, meron din kaming masasampolan," he added.

A recent Commission on Audit report showed that DPWH has P100 billion worth of delayed and unimplemented projects in violation of procurement law and agreed contracts.

In its 2019 annual audit report on DPWH, COA said that these delayed and unimplemented projects reached P101 billion in 2019, lower than the 2018 figure of P118 billion.

DPWH attributed the delayed implementation of projects to the delayed release of capital outlay allotments, which only started in June 2019 due to delayed approval of 2019 national budget law. —LBG, GMA News