Makabayan: COA, not DPWH, should audit flood control projects

The Commission on Audit (COA) should be the one to probe and audit the flood control projects, opposition lawmakers said Thursday.

House Deputy Minority Leader Representative Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers party-list and House Assistant Minority Leader Renee Co of Kabataan party-list made the statement in the aftermath of Public Works chief Manuel Bonoan’s comments that the DPWH does not have enough monitoring mechanisms for flood control projects included and approved by the lawmakers in the national budget.

“We welcome the call to probe and audit flood control projects following the massive flooding that hit Metro Manila and surrounding areas despite the billions allocated for flood mitigation. However, we strongly oppose any move to let the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) conduct its own investigation,” Tinio said.

"COA has the technical expertise, independence, and constitutional mandate to conduct thorough audits. They exposed the PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) scam, they questioned the confidential funds—they can certainly uncover the truth behind these flood control failures even by just basing from their previous audit reports," Tinio added.

Co, for her part, said the DPWH cannot probe itself as the chief implementor of these flood control projects given that the COA has flagged DPWH many times for its failure to implement infrastructure projects.

Co cited that based on the 2023 Annual Audit Report (AAR) on DPWH alone which is the latest available AAR, the DPWH was not able to efficiently implement P131 billion worth of locally funded projects due to inadequate planning, detailed engineering, supervision, and monitoring, resulting in delayed completion and non-implementation of various projects.

Likewise, the same COA report showed that the DPWH only completed 450 out of the 905 flood mitigation structures and drainage systems.

"Ang DPWH ay kasama sa problema, hindi bahagi ng solusyon. Paano nila i-audit ang sarili nilang kapalpakan? It would be a whitewash, pure and simple," Co, a lawyer, pointed out.

(DPWH is part of the problem, not the solution. How can they audit their own failings?)

“We call on the COA to conduct a comprehensive audit of all flood control projects, similar to their work on the pork barrel scam and Vice President Sara Duterte's confidential funds. COA has proven its independence and capability in exposing government anomalies,” Co added.

The prevailing inefficiency of DPWH, the lawmakers said, must end.

"The people deserve answers, and only an independent body like COA can provide them," We urge Congress to pass a resolution directing COA to conduct an immediate and comprehensive audit of all DPWH flood control projects from 2016 to the present,” they added.

GMA News Online has reached out to DPWH and the COA for comment. 

Investigation

Meanwhile, the House Committee on Accounts will investigate ongoing infrastructure projects of the government, including flood control projects by August, House accounts panel chairperson and Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said.

“Given the Presidential pronouncement and the commitment of House Speaker Martin Romualdez, we will call in all government agencies involved in the infrastructure projects for a probe. The DPWH will be asked to explain the status of our infrastructure projects, including the flood control projects. We are looking at doing it within August,” Ridon told reporters, referring to the Department of Public Works and Highways.

“Are there delays? Are there ghost projects? Are there completed projects? What are those due to be done within the year? The first order of business would be to look into the DPWH projects,” he added.

Ridon also said that the congressional inquiry will be fair and square and no one will be spared.— BM, GMA Integrated News