Manila, Philippines – A verbal row erupted between Davao City 1st district Rep. Paolo Duterte and ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio after the latter sought an independent probe on what he alleged as “anomalous” flood control projects in Davao City.
Tinio had submitted on Tuesday a formal letter before the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) seeking that the body look into P4.4 billion in contracts from 2019 to 2022.
In a statement, Duterte, son of former president Rodrigo Duterte, countered Tinio’s claims saying he is ready to be subjected to an ICI probe.
The Davao City lawmaker said that since he was elected to a congressional seat in 2019, he had no hand in awarding any public works contract covering his district in the three years until 2022.
“These projects were carried out by contractors who went through and won the bidding process…these projects were then performed based on the specifications laid down by the DPWH,” Duterte said in his statement.
The projects were inspected, audited and cleared by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) after completion, he added.
“[I]n short,every peso that was allocated went through the process and spent in accordance with the guidelines laid out by law…documented lahat yan [everything was documented],” Duterte said.
The lawmaker questioned Tinio over what he said was being singled out, while there could be other districts involved in the corruption scheme.
“Kung totoong objective si Tinio, bakit hindi niya sabay-sabay hinahabla ang mga distrito na may bilyon-bilyong flood control anomalies sa buong Pilipinas? Bakit ako lang? Bakit Davao lang?” read Duterte’s statement.
[TRANSLATION: If Tinio is really impartial, why did he not sue all those districts with billions worth of anomalous flood control contracts in the Philippines? Why only me? Why just Davao?”]
Tinio hit back in a separate statement on Wednesday.
“So inaamin niya na kabilang ang distrito niya sa mga distritong may bilyon-bilyong flood control anomalies. ‘Bakit ako lang’ daw. Thank you for your candor,” Tinio claimed.
[TRANSLATION: So he is admitting that his district is included among districts with billions worth of anomalous flood control projects. ‘Why only me’ he said. Thank you for your candor.]
