• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is conducting an investigation on the implementation of flood control projects in Negros Occidental.
William de Arca, executive officer of the NBI-Bacolod, said yesterday that three of the six district engineering offices (DEO) of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) have already complied with the submission of documents being required from them.
The DEOs in Binalbagan, San Carlos and Kabankalan submitted details of the flood control projects implemented in their respective areas from 2020 to 2025.
De Arca said the documents submitted will be compared to those posted in the DPWH website.
He added that the heads of the Talisay, Bago, and Bacolod DEOs will also appear before the NBI-Bacolod office next week.
“Our mandate requires us to examine flood control project documents to verify consistency with online records,” he said.
Based on the initial investigation, De Arca said that 10 to 12 flood control projects are reported to have been implemented annually.
Following document collection, the NBI will conduct site inspections to validate the project implementation, he added.
“After gathering evidence, we will submit it to Department of Justice for endorsement to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI),” he added.
The ICI has been tasked to investigate flood control corruption within the last 10 years. | GB
