Ben Contreras
RETIRED Col. Antonio “Tony” Lustre works under the office of Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III as political affairs officer, and he has been tasked to look into government projects.
It was by chance that we met again during the wake of a friend’s mother where he told me of a report from the Department of Public Works and Highways in Region 10 regarding projects for 2017 which he claimed to be very suspicious. His suspicion prompted him to ask for a more detailed report like how many participated in the bidding, who they are and who won. “This is good material to write about,” Lustre said to me, and he promised to give me a copy of a more detailed report as soon as he gets hold of it. That was some six weeks ago.
We met again last week during a meeting of a coalition. Asked about the matter, he said he is still waiting for DPWH-10 assistant director Efren Berba to comply. I asked for the copy of the initial report, 29 pages of it showing 152 projects already bidded out between November and December 2016 at a cost of roughly P15.8 billion.
This reminds me of a document showing checks involving millions of pesos issued by our mayor within a day. Perhaps, Koko might also be interested to ask Lustre to look into this issue which nobody dares to investigate except for William Guialani.
Berba served as assistant director to Director Baruso. DPWH-10 has a new regional director, said to be a lawyer. How the new regional director would take this issue remains to be seen.
Baruso’s sudden recall to the DPWH head office where she is held afloat must have something to do with unpleasant stories about alleged corruption activities in the DPWH regional office. When she was the director here, the DPWH was alleged to be a good source of money for people who claimed to be media representatives.
With one DPWH official on a silent mode and allegedly refusing to provide more detailed information to Lustre, there must be something sinister being kept from the public eye.
Months ago, I was told by a stakeholder that all projects for 2017 worth hundreds of billions were a done deal--meaning, they all went to favored (?) contractors. Would that explain why 152 projects worth P15.8 billion were bidded out in such a short time? It must be a super body that conducted the biddings or were these all “lutong Macaw” (done deal).
As far as DPWH is concerned, this could just be a tip of the iceberg. If this is what it is, like what we get about the Bureau of Customs and other known corrupt government agencies, then our President’s enemies can just sit back, relax and watch this administration implode.
Our President’s sincerity can never be enough if people under him think that everything is just for a show or good only in the beginning. It can’t also be denied that people close to the President have their own personal agenda, pursuing them at the expense of the nobler advocacies of this administration. But they should be reminded that vultures are just around, waiting for the President’s men to slip up, make unforgivable mistakes, and then feast on them like carcasses.
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Let us not be too unkind to laugh at what drug, process of medication or medical facilities the President uses to keep his health in check because we all must travel the same route. The agony of being sick can be less painful than the sneers and laughs of those who watch you sick and dying.
If you fail to understand this, perhaps karma can teach you a few lessons.
