To prevent abuse and misuse of government funds, Sen. Francis Escudero is pushing for the institutionalization of budget transparency and accountability safeguards for all infrastructure projects introduced in the national budget.
In his proposed Senate Bill No. 1461, otherwise known as the Infrastructure Appropriations Integrity Act, Escudero said there is a need to ensure that only government infrastructure projects that are technically and financially viable are included in the national budget.
Under the measure, he proposed that all infrastructure projects will have to incorporate mechanisms such as station numbers, geotagging, geodetic coordinates, and other technology-based methodologies that will allow anyone to locate these at any time.
‘Geotagging is one of the most important mechanisms for us to see the actual status of a project-whether something is really being done or if it’s just idle while the government continues to release funds,’ Escudero said in Filipino.
The bill also states that no government infrastructure project should be included in the national budget and implemented unless it has gone through a thorough feasibility study.
‘This documentation is a requirement and condition sine qua non for inclusion of any infrastructure project in the National Expenditure Program and the General Appropriations Act. All proposed projects must be vetted; otherwise, [they] should not receive a single centavo in public funds,’ Escudero said.
Apart from these two, Escudero’s measure likewise indicated that budget splitting or the division of the appropriations for infrastructure projects in phases, will also be prohibited.
Escudero is one of the government officials implicated in the anomalous flood control scandal.
In September, resigned Public Works and Highways undersecretary Roberto Bernardo testified before the Senate blue ribbon panel that he is close to businessman Maynard Ngu, a campaign contributor of Escudero.
He said Ngu once asked him to submit a list of projects for inclusion in the General Appropriations Act. Bernardo said they agreed on a 20 percent cut.
‘After inclusion of the projects in the General Appropriations Act, I delivered 20 percent of approximately P800 million, or about P160 million, which was meant for Senator Escudero,’ Bernardo said.
Escudero denied Bernardo’s allegation and said it is part of a ‘well-orchestrated’ attempt to discredit the Senate.