It has been a week since ACT Teachers Partylist Representative and House Deputy Minority Leader Antonio Tinio revealed the alleged red-flag flood control projects in Davao City, a territory of the Duterte family.
Based on the data presented by Tinio, there are 80 flood control projects for the Davao and Matina river from 2019 to 2022, amounting to over P4 billion that are anomalous.
On Thursday, Tinio formally filed a resolution urging the Lower chamber to conduct a congressional inquiry on the alleged anomalies in Davao.
The House inquiry aims to investigate the 80 flood control contracts within the Davao City 1st District over allegations of irregularities, total overlapping, double funding, ghost projects, incomplete delivery, location changes, improper specifications, and projects not included in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Tinio said that 49 of these are congressional insertions, and that the top contractor is Genesis88 owned by Glenn Escandor—former Presidential Adviser for Sports under former President Duterte, and is said to be a campaign donor of VP Sara.
“Our preliminary analysis reveals the same patterns of corruption in Davao that have been uncovered in Bulacan, Oriental Mindoro, and other parts of the country—congressional insertions, projects without proper specifications, changed locations, and systematic plunder of public funds. Kaya huwag gamitin ang baha sa Cebu para pagtakpan ang anomalya,”. Tinio said.
Tinio cited Congressman Paolo “Pulong” Duterte’s earlier remarks that Davao has nothing to hide, including the denial of the allegations.
The lawmaker said that this remark is a challenge to the authorities to conduct an investigation on alleged anomalous projects.
He further added that the public deserve to know the truth behind sunch allegations, and whether this is another issue of fund misuse: Billions of pesos meant to protect communities from flooding have been plundered through ghost projects, overpricing, and kickbacks. This is not just about corruption—this is about the lives and livelihoods of Filipinos who continue to suffer from floods because infrastructure funds were stolen.”—Mia Layaguin, Eurotv News