President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed to restore the practice of requiring local government unit (LGU) approval before national infrastructure projects push through, following his inspection of problematic Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) works in Benguet.
During his visit on Sunday, Marcos reviewed a P114.18-million “rock netting” project along Kennon Road in Tuba town and a P264-million rock shed in Barangay Camp 4—both contracted to 3K Rock Engineering. He did not mince words in criticizing the projects, calling one “sloppily made” and the other “very notorious for corruption.”
The President revealed that the rock netting, completed in 2019, had been overpriced. “I know the supplier of the rock netting. The price of rock netting is P3,200 [per square meter], but what was charged to the government was more than P12,000,” Marcos said. He added that such projects often bypassed LGUs, with no consultations or public hearings conducted.
Marcos pointed to his own experience as a governor, saying projects used to be subjected to daily monitoring and final acceptance by local officials before being turned over. “The SOP before was that before you release the project to the local government, it should be first accepted by the local government. And that’s something that we will reinstitute,” he stressed.
Local leaders, including Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, echoed the President’s concerns, citing other questionable DPWH projects in the Cordillera region, including alleged overpricing of solar lights, roller barriers, and road safety devices.
Marcos also lambasted the rock shed project, reported finished earlier this year, after its slope protection collapsed during Typhoon “Emong.” “Here is the problem: This P260 million project [is] useless. It’s like the government threw money into the river. Useless,” he declared.
He noted that the structure’s foundation had been undermined by weak and undersized protection walls, leaving Kennon Road once again exposed to rockfalls and flood damage.
