ADVERTISEMENT“This gargantuan amount of payables has reincarnated an old system that forces (public works) contractors to cough up kickbacks just to be paid for completed infrastructure projects,” Andaya said. “(Budget) Secretary (Benjamin) Diokno has yet to explain his role in the 11th-hour insertion of P75 billion in DPWH budget. Now we have uncovered another dark secret lurking in the DBM: P100-billion payables that breed corruption in payment of DPWH contracts for 2018 projects,” he said. ‘Grease money’According to Andaya, the amount of unpaid DPWH contracts ballooned because of a “system of corruption” that has crept back into the DBM and the DPWH. “Since the payments are usually insufficient, contractors have to resort to bribery just to get paid,” Andaya said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer February 15, 2019 23:26 UTC