CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral on Thursday assured the business sector that the agency is stamping out corruption in its own ranks alongside the implementation of massive infrastructure projects through President Rodrigo Duterte's "Build Build Build" program.
Speaking before groups of businessmen from North Luzon during the 27th North Luzon Area Business Conference at the Laus Group Event Centre, Cabral said that the DPWH has been implementing innovative programs aimed at stamping out corruption, as well as personnel involved in it.
She noted of the new project and contract management procedures and application monitoring system equipped with a geotagging feature currently utilized by the agency in all of its ongoing projects.
The said monitoring system would enable the adding of geographic identification data to photos, videos, and other posts which allows other content from the same geographic location to be found, while also serving as a tool for inspection and reflect the accomplishments of DPWH projects real-time, she added.
"This will enable us to see the location of the project and its real-time progress, and will prevent and avoid the existence of ghost projects in government programs," Cabral said.
Moreover, Cabral also said that the DPWH implementing offices are now required to report the performance of their project contractors to ensure that only those who post high-quality works can be hired by the agency.
She revealed that the DPWH has been blacklisting contractors who showed poor performance on their projects.
Cabral also disclosed that the DPWH is also mulling on transitioning to the electronic bidding system which would simplify and fast-track the bidding process of all government infrastructure projects.
Once implemented, Cabral said the system would also help in averting corruption as there would be less agency personnel involved in the bidding process which, she described, as the stage where most fraudulent activities happens.
"The DPWH is working closely to ensure that all the huge business taxes you are paying to the government will translate into world-class high-quality infrastructure projects that will be beneficial to everybody," Cabral told the businessmen.
