Senators are not yet safe from the controversy of anomalous and “ghost” flood control projects, according to a statement made on Saturday.
It was stated that both senators and members of the House insert or push for amendments in the proposed budget—which is why repeated calls have been made for transparency in the budget formulation process.
“I am not saying it’s only from the House… It is possible that there are also senators who inserted and are part of the 25% share, what they call the funder or proponent or sponsor of insertions,” the senator said in a radio interview.
“Let me just say it this way: there might be some, and there might also be congressmen,” the senator added in a separate radio interview when asked if senators are also involved in questionable projects.
When asked why no senator has yet been identified as involved, it was explained that it is not right to name names without solid evidence. In this case, it was assured that findings would only be revealed when there is a solid basis.
It was mentioned that both senators and members of the House can insert funds into the budget, each for their own reasons. This can range from helping their constituents to fulfilling campaign promises—or to fill their own pockets through commissions from their insertions, which in law are called amendments.
It was explained that lawmakers who make insertions for infrastructure projects may gain the “right” to choose the contractor for it.
“When you insert, it’s like you have a claim, you have a royalty, you have the right to assert because I inserted, maybe I can choose the contractor for that,” the modus was explained.
Because of this, transparency in the budget formulation process was advocated once again, including providing a record of the names of lawmakers proposing amendments.
“It’s easy to point out if implementation fails—we can determine which congressman or senator inserted or authored or proposed the amendments a.k.a. insertion,” it was said.
Without this transparency, it was warned that the “hubris” that fueled systematic and organized corruption behind anomalies and “ghost” projects, as seen in the first engineering district in Bulacan, will continue.
“Hubris. Their self-confidence went overboard where they disregarded public perception, disregarded public opinion, and disregarded public need. Everything about the public, they closed their eyes to because greed could no longer be controlled. They were no longer satisfied with a cut here, a percentage there. They pushed it to the limit until it reached ‘ghost’ projects so they could take everything,” it was stated.
