Pulong Duterte: No ghost projects in Davao City

Davao City Representative Paolo "Pulong" Duterte on Thursday hit back at Majority Leader Sandro Marcos after the Ilocos Norte congressman slammed him over his statements on the leadership change in the House of Representatives.

On Wednesday, Duterte said that Marcos chose Isabela Representative Faustino "Bojie" Dy III to replace then-Speaker Martin Romualdez, adding that the leadership change was a "cover-up" for a rotten system amid the controversy surrounding some legislators involved in questionable flood control projects.

Marcos denied this, saying Duterte's frequent absences prevented him from being informed on House affairs and that he was "busy" searching for the P51 billion worth of infrastructure projects in his district.

"If only the gentleman from Ilocos were not blind and deaf to the clamor of our people—a clamor drowned by the influence of money and power—he would know that DPWH Region XI has already clarified the P49.8 billion worth of projects in Davao City," Duterte said in a statement.

"All are properly accounted for. I sincerely hope the same transparency can be shown in his district."

Duterte added, "Walang ghost projects dito! (There are no ghost projects here!)" 

He said that he has refrained from regularly attending House sessions "not out of neglect, but because the stench of graft and corruption has become unbearable within these very halls." 

"It is an environment that suffocates true public service," he said.

Duterte also suggested that Marcos, along with his father, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., take a hair follicle drug test and account for the money lost as a result of corruption in government projects. —VBL, GMA Integrated News