Gov’t promises graft-free, fast ‘Build, Build, Build’

With the Duterte administration giving the green light to some 23 flagship projects under its ambitious “Build, Build, Build” program, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III vowed the implementation of these projects would be fast and corruption-free.

In a text message to reporters yesterday, Dominguez cited three specific actions by which the government could ensure a graft-free implementation of the massive infrastructure projects.

First, Dominguez said, was to require “the contractors of China-funded projects to be officially endorsed by the government of China.”

Dominguez also said the “strictly monitoring all phases of project implementation” and “careful project preparation” would safeguard the clean rollout of these projects.

“Under the leadership of President Duterte, we have managed to reduce corruption to the barest minimum in all government efforts. We have started the projects already,” he said in an interview at the sidelines of the Asean Finance Ministers’ and Central Governors’ Meeting held in Singapore on April 5 to 6.

To recall, 23 of the 75 high-impact and big-ticket projects identified by the government, with a combined cost of $170 billion, have already made it beyond the approval process and are now “shovel-ready.” The go-signal was given by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) chaired by President Duterte.

Dominguez also expects that the rest of the projects will be approved before the year ends.

“So the projects are going quickly, and we are very, very confident they are going to be completed on time with no corruption,” Dominguez said.

Earlier, the finance chief said that to ensure the speedy rollout of the projects, the government had adopted the “three-in-one process” of approvals where the Neda Board approval, the forward obligational authority and the special presidential authority would be issued all at once.