• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The six engineering districts of the Department of Public Works and Highways have maintained that there are no “ghost projects” implemented in Negros Occidental, according to Manuel Fayre Jr., the chief of the National Bureau of Investigation – Bacolod.
The NBI – Bacolod is conducting an investigation on the implementation of flood control projects in Negros Occidental.
All the six district engineers claimed they are 100 percent sure that no ghost project was implemented in the province, Fayre said.
That is very good, if it is true, he added.
Fayre said the six DPWH district engineers, whom he described as “very cooperative,” have already complied with subpoenas issued for them to submit a list of all infrastructure projects they implemented in Negros Occidental, from 2022 to 2025.
He added that they will compare the documents, which contain details of the infrastructure projects they implemented in the province, particularly flood control projects, to those posted in the DPWH website.
The NBI is among the investigating agencies of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), which is probing corruption in flood control projects within the last 10 years.
Fayre added that they will issue another subpoena for the six DPWH engineering districts to furnish them with the geo tagging of areas of where flood control mitigation projects that are already completed, and those about to be finished.
Admitting that it could be a tedious job, Fayre said they are enlisting the cooperation of communities where the flood control projects are located.
Based on the initial investigation of the NBI, about 10 to 12 flood control projects are implemented annually in Negros Occidental.*
