Flawed infra projects in Bulacan enable budget insertions, kickbacks 

Former Bulacan 1st district assistant engineer Brice Hernandez revealed Tuesday that structural development projects are all substandard in his district since 2019 to accommodate for budget insertion beneficiaries.

“Nakakasigurado po ako na lahat ng proyekto sa Bulacan 1st substandard po,” Hernandez reiterated during the Senate blue ribbon committee probe on anomalous flood control projects on Sept. 23. 

He explained that the infrastructure projects compromised flood control, hospitals, buildings, roads and classrooms with no concrete plans achieved. 

Hernandez admitted that their office has never done a project without kickbacks because they distributed the budget allotted among themselves. 

“Wala po your honor. Hindi ko po masabi ‘yung sa ibang lugar your honor, ang sinasabi ko po ‘yung sa nasasakupan po namin wala po talaga your honor,” he told the committee.

The alleged widespread corruption in three congressional districts of Bulacan began in 2019 and lasts until today, as Hernandez stated.

He reiterated the process involves allotting 10% to 30% percent of the budget for each establishment project to its beneficiaries who get billions of kickback stored in luggages. 

The amount of money proponents get vary depending on the kind of project, with flood control and farm to market projects being most feasible of having the biggest construction cost kickback percentages. 

On Sept. 21, “Baha sa Luneta” and the “Trillion Peso March” rallies were organized in Luneta and EDSA as the public expressed their outrage over rampant flood control project anomalies.