VICE President Sara Duterte’s most recent charade against the administration looks more like a dud rather than a bombshell, according to Infrawatch PH convenor Terry Ridon in reference to “shelved Davao City flood control projects.”
According to Ridon, Duterte’s claim that the government isn’t bent on funding Davao City’s flood control program is totally uncalled for even as the think-tank called on the Vice President to check her facts.
Citing verified information, Ridon said that the flood control master plan referred to by Duterte was only finalized in July 2023 and has not yet even been scrapped.
“The vice president’s recent tirades on flood control don’t hold water. At best, we can rate her statement as missing essential context,” said Ridon in a statement.
Duterte earlier accused the Marcos administration of neglecting a flood control project in Davao City on the basis that a member of the Duterte family is the sitting mayor.
However, Duterte’s allegation doesn’t sit well for Ridon who finds it rather absurd for the Vice President to attribute the master plan to his father’s term since it was only finalized a year after his father’s term expired.
“It is wrong for VP Duterte to say that the Davao City master plan was formulated under her father’s term. Sure, the review began under her father, but it was finished just last year. She is characteristically rushing something that costs billions of pesos to construct – with funding coming from foreign loans at that,” said Ridon.
“As the feasibility study for the project was completed just last year, it is understandable that the substantial amount needed for its construction is not yet reflected in the budget books. However, it is more important that it’s on the list, meaning it has not been dropped or listed into oblivion, thereby dispelling VP Sara’s unfounded charades.”
Ridon also said that projects as big as that should not be rushed to avoid wastage of the government’s limited resources.
“This is what we are most concerned about: is it proper for one of the highest officials of the land to rush a multi billion-peso project even without knowing its specifics? That trait leads to excess, wastage, and nefarious deeds,” he added.
He also took a swipe at the Vice President’s attempt to “politicize” the government’s flood control initiative by singling out Davao City, even as he urged Duterte to expose possible issues on major existing projects, like the flood control projects in the country’s 18 major river basins — “…instead of “nitpicking projects under her family’s bailiwick.” (ANGEL F. JOSE)
