A renowned Filipino urban planner has raised concerns about the extent of corruption in the country’s infrastructure projects and its consequences.
“I’m also the director for direction infrastructure at PCCI. Contractors tell me 30-40% of the infrastructure budget goes to corruption,” according to Felino ‘Jun’ Palafox, Jr., Renowned Filipino Urban Planner.
That’s the revelation of renowned Filipino Urban Planner Jun Palafox in an interview on the program 3PM Pilipinas Muna on SMNI.
According to the esteemed architect, the feedback he received from friends and contractor acquaintances highlighted a significant problem.
For instance, he mentioned the structural vulnerabilities of buildings due to the use of substandard materials, particularly concerning the feared 7.2 magnitude earthquake, ‘the big one,’ that could hit Metro Manila.
“Let’s say a contractor has to bribe 30-40%. Where will they reduce the specifications? So I said if a magnitude 7.2 (earthquake) hits Metro Manila, buildings, bridges, infrastructure that involved corruption- god forbid they will all collapse,” he added.
According to a study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2004, around 50,000 people lost their lives during the feared earthquake in Metro Manila during that time.
Palafox attributed the root cause of the problem to the widespread practice of bribery or payoffs within the government.
“It’s so hard to get building permits. Now? Some contractors tell me, developers… excavation permit payola, building permit payola, occupancy permit, payola, fire occupancy permit you have to buy their specified fire…,” he said.
Contractors, according to Palafox, have no choice but to work with the budget allocated for government projects that come their way.
Some are even afraid to expose and report corruption in the infrastructure sector.
“Contractors are telling me, and they’re afraid to be identified. One contractor told me, they had to fork out 28% just to get paid. And contractors I think, the profit margin of contractors I think is 10-15%. (10-15… the highest is 20%) yeah, but if 40% is corruption where will they? Either overprice by 40%, or reduce your specifications, steel bars by 40%,” he added.
Palafox mentioned that during the previous administration, there were those who planned to engage in corruption, but backtracked because they fear the strict stance of Former President Rodrigo Duterte against government corruption.
“Factor of fear is gone now. Which we had in Duterte, there was a factor of fear for the corrupt. There’s also a factor of fear for those victims of corruption, and red tape. They are afraid of all the mayors, building officials, and so on to report,” he said.
Palafox is urging all Filipinos to report officials involved in corruption to the media or make it viral on social media.
He believes it’s not too late to correct the mistakes in the country and achieve the goal of making the Philippines a first-world country in the future.
This, according to Palafox, can only happen if Filipinos change their stance on issues of irregularities and corruption.
