Philippines 'ghost' flood projects leave residents stranded
Over $17 billion meant for flood control projects has been misappropriated, leaving communities exposed to flooding and diseases like leptospirosis, officials and residents report.
- A flood control dike project in Plaridel, Philippines, meant to protect the town, remains incomplete despite being marked completed over a year ago.
- The project stalled after contractors started last year and funds supposedly ran out, sparking a major corruption scandal amid endemic public fund mismanagement.
- Public Works Minister Vince Dizon called the $2 million taxpayer-funded dike an 'obvious ghost project' with faulty cement that can be crushed by hand and fired responsible engineers.
- Residents like construction worker Leo Francisco described floodwaters reaching their homes and carrying children to school, while health worker Nelia de los Reyes Bernal noted spikes in leptospirosis and athlete's foot cases.
- The scandal has fueled protests demanding justice and prison for culprits, caused leadership changes in Congress, and Greenpeace estimates $17.6 billion bilked from climate-related projects since 2023.
45 Articles
45 Articles
Philippine taxpayers soaked as RM72b ‘ghost’ flood-project scandal leaves towns under water
PLARIDEL, Sept 20 — The dike meant to protect the Philippine town cost taxpayers nearly US$2 million (RM8.41 million), but when a minister visited this month he found little more than dirt hastily dumped along the river’s banks.Residents of Plaridel, north of the capital Manila, could have told him what happened — contractors had only just begun a project that government officials marked “completed” more than a year earlier.The dike is one of mo…
A "phantom project": when the Philippine Minister of Public Works, Vince Dizon, went to the north of the capital, Manila, in early September to inspect a dike, he found only a heap of hastily spilled land. ...
Philippines 'ghost' flood projects leave residents stranded - VnExpress International
The dike meant to protect the Philippine town cost taxpayers nearly US$2 million, but when a minister visited this month he found little more than dirt hastily dumped along the river's banks. - VnExpress International
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