(0:00:00) Good afternoon. Sir President, obviously po, iba ang point of view nung dalawa nating kasamahan. Pareho nating ginagalang. Let me appreciate the passion of both of them to get to the bottom of the biggest scandal—at least monetarily—the biggest graft and corruption scandal to hit the country in our history. If you look at the amounts, it’s staggering. But may I make this manifestation just to encourage all of us that there are simple ways also of finding some solutions to the problem.
(0:00:42) Ayokong maliitin po ang trabaho ni Senator Lacson. Ayokong maliitin po ang trabaho ni Senator Marcoleta. Pareho po silang nagsusumikap na malaman ang totoo, pero napaka-politically-charged ng atin pong environment ngayon.
(0:00:59) First, Mr. President, I’d like to mention, during the budget hearing, I asked Secretary Vince Dizon a very simple question, ‘ba’t hindi nalang utusan lahat ng DE, samahan ng COA, samahan ng Barangay Captain, sa listahan na hawak ng DPWH ng 2023 or 2022 pa, hanggang 2025 project, kunan lang ng picture. Para kung may picture at hindi pa bayad, edi hindi ghost yun.’
(0:01:28) Kung may picture, walang project, at bayad na, ghost yun. Kung may problema ‘de substandard or kung ano man, kita na natin sa picture kasi si Senator Lacson na mismo ang nagsabi rin saatin na ‘as time goes by, umiiba yung numbers ng actual na ghost at hindi. Number two, Mr. President, I think many of us, and I’d like to appreciate Senator Win Gatchalian here—cautioned—that when there are investigations on [the] graft and corruption, minsan mas malaki pa ang tama kapag ka napigil pa ang mga projects. I brought this up to DPWH na ‘pag kinansel niyo lahat ng projects, baka walang kumuha niyan.
(0:02:14) But since yung top ten, nandun, instead of bantayan, insist, wag bayaran, kinansel lahat, so nakatiwangwang most if not all. But number three, I approached Senator Win right before I asked the majority leader to speak. Nabasa ko po sa online, sa major Dailies na wala pang nabi-bid sa 2026 budget ang DPWH.
(0:02:39) I’m not that sure if that’s 100% correct, but it seems to be correct na marami sa mga projects [ay] hindi pa nabi-bid. One of the problems daw was the pricing of materials, na maaaring magbago nanaman because of the price increase. So this is the problem, Mr. President. Presyo pa lang at project, but for every school building na ma-delay, isang buong generation ang hindi makakapag… kukuha ng quality education. Ganun din po sa farm-to-market road. Isang 5 [or] 10 year generation ng ating farmers ang lalong maghihirap at mas bababa presyo kasi hindi magagawa yung farm-to-market road or irrigation.
(0:03:05) So, I again…hindi ko minamaliit yung mga pinag-usapan today. Yung mga pag-uusapan ‘sinong iimbitahin, how we follow the evidence, who does the evidence point to, [at] sinong mastermind’.
(0:03:30) But let me just emphasize na dalawang problema o tatlong problema in one. Hold someone accountable, but how do we put enough trust in our system—in DPWH, in our infrastructure projects—to get it rolling, ‘di ba? So the third, whammy.
(0:03:47) Pa-lapit na yung tag-ulan. Kapag hindi na build ang project ng hanggang April, hindi po mag-uumpisa yung mga projects ng May. Parati nating hinahabol ang summer kasi doon po mabilis gawin ang mga projects lalo kung may excavation. Kapag ginawa natin ang ng June [or] July, maraming delay dahil nga tag-ulan.
(0:04:08) Ang problema, Mr. President. Dahil wala tayong budget for flood control this year, at sabi gagamitin yung pang-last year. Pero hindi pa natin sure kung nilagay yun tapos tumigil lahat ng iba.
(0:04:19) I think many of us are expecting, are hoping, na walang baha this year. But I think logic would dictate na–sana hindi–God forbid that there will be massive floods, but there will be. So gusto ko lang bigyang-diin, Mr. President na nagka-initan man today, we have two passionate colleagues who want to get to the truth. And part of getting to the truth is ayusin ang sistema. So I hope that in the next few days…
(0:04:44) Maybe the chairman of the Public Works Committee, maybe the chairman of yung sa transpo, maybe the head of our Finance Committee ‘di ba can get to the bottom of this. Kasi nga time is running out.
(0:05:04) Napaka-baba ng GDP natin for the fourth quarter. Ilang araw nalang tapos na first quarter. Tapos nangyari pa yung sa Middle-East. So as we pray for the U.S., for Iran, for the whole Middle-East, for Israel, as we pray for peace, as we pray for our OFWs, we have to act at ayusin natin ang problema sa infrastructure. So let me just emphasize that Mr. President, na habang hindi natatapos itong imbestigasyon, ang problema—ang naging casualty din na… hindi kasalanan ng kung sino man dito sa kwartong ito, pero naging unintended consequence yung delay sa pagbi-bid at pag-aayos ng sistema. Thank you for this opportunity, Mr. President.
