Anti-graft group urges govt agencies to stop corruption

The Presidential AntiCorruption Commission (PACC) has appealed to government agencies to make a conscious effort to curb graft and corruption to help boost President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on corruption.

“It would be a step in the right direction if our heads of agencies consider this objective as one of their priorities as their New Year’s resolution for the year 2020,” PACC chairman Dante Jimenez said. Jimenez made the appeal after the PACC found alleged questionable transactions in the bidding and contracting procedures in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). PACC Commissioner Manuelito Luna disclosed that the PACC “knew fully well how DPWH blacklisted contractors,” supposedly “conspiring with public officials,” allegedly “rigged civil works biddings in provincial and district engineering levels.”

Luna said new players and contractors who refused to give a percentage of the project amount to alleged “corrupt” officials were allegedly disqualified

In some instances, “corrupt public officers use dummies or loan the licenses of legitimate or good performing contractors for a fee...”

by the bids and awards committees or advised not to participate anymore in the bidding.

In some instances, “corrupt public officers use dummies or loan the licenses of legitimate or good performing contractors for a fee, thus undertaking the projects themselves for larger gains,” he added. “As a result, some projects were either abandoned, incompleted or substandard,” Luna said.