MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is investigating up to 10 cases of alleged irregularities in its projects, following President Rodrigo Duterte鈥檚 claim of corruption in the agency.
DPWH Secretary Mark Villar said Thursday that the task force he had created to investigate anomalies in the department鈥檚 projects will be issuing show-cause orders to the parties involved in the cases.
鈥淎t this point there are certain, maybe procedural [issues]. There are some procedures that were not necessarily followed and there are some accusations. I don鈥檛 want to specify until we鈥檝e really looked into it, but definitely there are cases that we are looking at,鈥� he said in an interview with ABS-CBN 黑料社 Channel.
鈥淲e are looking at up to 10 cases. Right now we are looking at around up to 10 cases simultaneously. We are really focusing on this. It is a challenge and we are really gonna work hard to fulfill the mandate of the President,鈥� he added.
Villar assured that the DPWH will also hold contractors accountable for anomalous projects. He added that so far, around 25 contractors have been blacklisted as part of the agency鈥檚 anti-corruption drive.
Villar earlier ordered the creation of a task force within the DPWH to investigate alleged irregularities in the department. The DPWH task force against graft and corruption will probe 鈥渁nomalies in the agency based on valid complaints.鈥�
Duterte also earlier tasked a Department of Justice-led task force to focus on investigating alleged corruption in the DPWH.