ONE of the issues tackled by BBM during his SONA that attracted so much attention was his “mahiya naman kayo” yarn about the crooks in his government who had shepherded the highly anomalous flood control projects that literally became flooded and eventually lost in limbo.
In local lingo, gi-kopras ra ang bilyon-bilyon nga budget para unta sa flood control projects pero didto ra diay sa mga bulsa sa mga kurakot nahulog.
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I recall one such project in one of the towns in the 3rd district.
Flood control project gihapon to siya, where a dike was constructed to prevent flooding during heavy rains.
Outright, there was nothing wrong with the project, it looked right.
But when the strong flood came, gibanlas pa bitaw na and there, for all the world to see, nang-gawas ug nakita ang di unta angay makit-an sa mga tawo.
And what was that?
Kawayan ang gigamit instead of kabilya, sa paghimo sa dike.
Indeed, it was an accident waiting to happen. Di gyod magsilbi kon kawayan lang kay ma-lata man siya kon dunay tubig, unlike iron bars.
Klaro kaayo nga gigamitan na lang og kawayan kay mas barato man ang kawayan kay sa kabilya and the contractor was trying his best to “make-do” with what little was left of the project cost human kuhai sa kikik, kickback, SOP or witik para sa Cong ug uban pa.
So how was it possible?
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Accordingly, the project was merely secondary, the primary aim was the kikik, the kickback or the SOP para sa mga “buaya” sa gobierno.
Somebody was dangling the flood control project sa mga congressmen and mayors, their job was merely to identify where the project would be implemented, the “solicitor” took charge of the funding source, the contractor and of course, the bahin-bahin sa kikik, kickback, SOP or witik.
Dili na magsapayan ang mayor or congressmen kon kinsa nga contractor ang mo-trabaho kay seguro na man daan ang ilang pahat sa bahin-bahin.
Pila man ako ani, was the usual question of congressmen and mayors.
Because of the long list of “buaya” who made sure they received their pahat, gamay na lang intawon ang mahibilin para sa project implementation.
So imbes 1-4 ang mix-kla sa semento, balas ug bato, himoon na lang 1-7, daghanon pa gyod ang bato, unya aron maka-menus pa gyod sa project cost, dili na lang mogamit og kabilya kay mas barato man ang kawayan.
Super sub-standard gyod ang project kon mahuman.
Total, kon way baha, di bitaw na mahibaw-an nga super sub-standard diay ang maong flood control project.
No wonder, dali ra kaayo ang mga “buaya” nga makapalit og mga nindot nga mga sakyanan, mahalon nga mga butang ug pirmi byahe-byahe sa gawas kay kwartang pinaspasan man.
Kon “pinangga” o paborito sa “solicitor” ang mayor ug congressman, duha o tulo ka flood control project ang ihatag.
Oh, di ba lovely?
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Unya si BBM, maghisgot lang ug kaulaw ngadto sa mga buaya, susmariosep?
He knows fully well who they are and the fact nga dugay ra gi-operahan og kaulaw ang mga buaya nga iyang gipasabot.
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So the question – what happened when the kawayans were exposed in that flood control project, diha bay gikasohan?
Mi-reklamo ba ang mayor, mi-reklamo ba ang congressman, mi-reklamo ba ang DPWH?
Ambot lang sa langaw.
