President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Thursday the government is considering the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology to effectively monitor the status of flood control projects in the country.
”The AI is looking at the contract process. And when there’s something wrong with the contract process, it will flag it,’ he said in Filipino during his President’s Report in Malacañang.
‘We have smart technology to check what the standard really is, if the construction is good. This checks if the rebar is really being put in, if the concrete is really-if the cement is really thick, if the cement is to the right specification,’ Marcos explained in Filipino.
Moreover, the President said that reforms to ensure transparency and honesty in the implementation of these projects will be implemented in various sectors of the government.
‘We are creating a transparency portal to provide the public with broader access to information about projects, including details regarding contractors. The portal shows the implementing office, location, and project status,’ he said.
Since its launch on August 11 up to November 10, Marcos said the Sumbong sa Pangulo website already received 20,078 reports.
‘We will also implement systematic reforms in three key areas to improve transparency, the security of our data, and citizen participation in monitoring our projects,’ he also said.
Improvements on the design process, bidding, and procurement will also be carried out, he said.
Marcos further said that AI will specifically focus on checking and identifying any anomalies in the contracts associated with these flood-control projects.
In the same report, Marcos issued a stern warning to personalities involved in the questionable flood-control projects.
‘They’re going to be locked up; they won’t have a Merry Christmas,’ he said when asked when these persons would be put in jail.
He is also hopeful that the billions of pesos worth of government funds will be recovered through the Bureau of Immigration’s filing of tax-evasion cases against those involved.
‘I’m sure we can still recover a lot from this, so we’ll continue to do that,’ Marcos said.
Issues related to alleged corruption, specifically in relation to flood control projects, currently plague the Philippine government.
On September 11, Marcos issued Executive Order No. 94, establishing the Independent Commission for Infrastructure, to investigate all public works projects undertaken over the past decade.
The superbody has already transmitted its first batch of case referrals to the Office of the Ombudsman, implicating 37 individuals. These include high-profile politicians, former Department of Public Works and Highways officials, and contractors.
On September 21, tens of thousands of people staged protests in various parts of Metro Manila. The demonstrations coincided with the anniversary of the declaration of martial law under then-President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in September 1972.