DPWH to use drone, satellite tech vs corruption

Public Works Secretary Mark Villar vowed to make full use of drone and satellite technology to counter ghost projects.

Villar issued the statement as Sen. Panfilo Lacson said on Tuesday night that he uncovered possible anomalies and sources of pork barrel funds in the proposed P643-billion budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for 2018.

The DPWH chief said the agency’s regional and district offices are transitioning to a new monitoring system called the Project and Contract Management Procedures and Application (PCMA), which has a builtin geotagging feature.

“When we finish the transition this year, we expect to detect any ghost project in real time,” Villar said in an interview at the deliberations of the proposed DPWH budget in the Senate.

“Drones are already being used in monitoring the project accomplishment of regional projects. We are now mandating our district offices to adopt the same technology,” he said.

The full transition to PCMA is expected to be completed this year. It would enable geographic identification of photos, videos and other posts and provide a more accurate measurement of project accomplishments.

He said before contractor claims could be processed, they would now need to submit geo-tagged photos as well as a geographic-based status report.

“The use of technology would serve as a strong deterrent against any possible future anomalies,” he added.