THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has discovered over 60 non-existent or “ghost” flood control projects during its ongoing nationwide inspection, AFP Chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said Monday.
According to Brawner, the AFP has so far inspected around 8,000 projects under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), uncovering roughly 60 that were found to be missing or never implemented.
“The latest statistics reported to me were that out of 8,000 flood control projects, around 60 turned out to be ghost projects,” Brawner said in a radio interview.
Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon earlier enlisted the AFP and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to assist in inspecting thousands of flood control projects nationwide.
The AFP has reportedly been assigned to check more than 16,000 projects in total.
Brawner explained that the military was chosen for the task because it has personnel stationed across the country, making it capable of conducting widespread inspections.
“This is not actually new for us. During the barangay development program, we were also tasked to inspect whether the projects were properly implemented or if they existed at all,” he added.
However, Brawner clarified that the AFP’s role is limited to verifying the presence of projects on the ground.
“As of now, we don’t have the expertise to determine if the projects are substandard. We forward the information on ghost projects to the DPWH for further assessment by their engineers,” he said.
The number of ghost projects is expected to rise as inspections continue nationwide.