Partido Reporma chairman and standard-bearer Panfilo “Ping” Lacson has renewed his vow to end corruption in government projects where up to 40 percent of the costs are lost “depending on the greed of those who implement them.”
Lacson, who is seeking the presidency in the 2022 national elections, promised to bring down the decades-old system of graft perpetuated by government officials.
He said that even as the national debt has ballooned to P11.9 trillion, Filipinos still are not benefitting from the projects these funds are supposed to be earmarked for.
“For example, the government implements a project worth ten million pesos, but not all ten million goes into the project. It is reduced by 20 percent, 30 percent, sometimes 40 percent depending on the greed, the gluttony of those implementing it,” he said in Partido Reporma’s “Online Kumustahan” on Saturday from San Rafael, Bulacan.
About P320 billion in funds annually are unused from the borrowings of the government that should be going to investment, infrastructure, and livelihood projects, said the veteran senator who has watched the nation’s coffers for nearly 18 years.
“Just look around you… especially when you go to the remote villages. Where is our [national] budget going every year?” he said.
Compounding the problem is the neglect and incompetence of the government that Lacson said should not be taken for granted by Filipinos.
“If we don’t get mad, and if we just laugh at the anomalies we see, it looks like we have a huge problem. It’s like we’re letting them get away with it, ‘that’s just how the system is,’ which I think is wrong,” he said.