MANILA (September 25) — A coalition of mayors has vowed to assist the country’s independent investigative body in building cases against anomalous infrastructure projects by analyzing ten years of Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) contracts in their cities and establishing a “whistleblower hotline.”
On Tuesday, September 23, the Mayors for Good Governance (M4GG), led by Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto and Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Independent Commission for Infrastructure to formalize their collaboration.
Belmonte stated that member-mayors of M4GG had already been invited to review DPWH projects in their localities since 2015.
The findings will be given to the commission, which was established earlier this month to look into fraud in public works, particularly flood control projects.
“We promise to assist the ICI in our goal of resolving corruption in our cities, particularly in flood control projects, but not only in flood control projects,” Belmonte stated in a mix of English and Filipino during the signing ceremony.
Whistleblower hotline activated
In addition to auditing DPWH projects, M4GG member-mayors will support the commission by arranging activities like as collaborative site inspections and “crowd-sourcing endeavors,” according to a coalition statement.
The M4GG will also establish a whistleblower hotline to function as a conduit for government personnel, contractors, and insiders to share critical information regarding suspicious projects.
Sotto stated that the cooperation of local governments will help the commission to gather information sooner.
“As individual mayors, of course, our scope or jurisdiction is limited, but through our colleagues and through other mayors, the members of the Mayors for Good Governance, we will be able to move faster,” Sotto stated.
“Our fellow mayors will be able to help in fact-finding, in case build-up, and if they have other information, they will be able to help our commission,” he indicated.
Sotto, Belmonte, Magalong, and Isabela City Mayor Sitti Djalia Hataman serve as the coalition’s conveners. Magalong also sits as the commission’s special adviser.
Andres Reyes Jr., Chairperson of the ICI and a former Supreme Court Justice, commended the local government cooperation.
“Honesty is the best policy. And second, no one is above the law,” Reyes stated in his brief remarks following the signing of the memorandum.
In addition to the M4GG, the independent body signed memorandums of understanding with three other organizations on Tuesday: the Philippine National Police, led by Chief PNP Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr.; the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, led by executive president Allan Panolong; and the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers, led by national president Frederick Francis Sison.
The commission was established on September 11 and is concentrating its initial investigations on flood control projects, including “ghost projects”—contracts that are mentioned in the budget and declared finished but do not exist in reality.
