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Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday called for an investigation on the
Southrail project, which is allegedly overpriced by $70 million
based on the testimony of Rodolfo Lozada Jr., the new witness on the
anomalies surrounding the national broadband project.
Lacson said the Southrail project is only one of
the many government projects ending up as excuses for corruption.
In Senate Resolution 302 which he filed, Lacson
said the investigation aims to strengthen the government’s
procurement and antigraft laws.
“Numerous anomalous procurement deals have
become a common occurrence in this administration wherein government
officials blatantly disregard the rule of law just to further their
pecuniary interests,” he said.
The alleged anomalies in the Southrail project
came to the fore last Friday and was repeated on Monday’s hearing
at the Senate, based on Lozada’s testimony.
Lozada said some Palace officials, without
naming them, were among the beneficiaries of the $70-million
overprice from the Southrail project.
Jose Sarasola, general manager of the Philippine
National Railways, confirmed that Lozada was with former National
Economic and Development Authority Director General Romulo Neri
during two of the meetings for the Southrail project in 2006.
“In light of recent events, it is evident that
RA 9184 [Government Procurement Reform Act] had become a toothless,
if not a useless, law in ensuring that the governmental procurement
process is free from any irregularities, thus there is an urgent
need to revise the provisions of the said law in order to make it
more effective and efficient in preventing anomalies in the
future,” he said.
At present, the government is seeking to
expedite the completion of eight priority railway projects. Most of
these projects involve the interconnection, improvement, upgrading
and extension of existing railway systems.
The PNR said the Southrail project will be
implemented in two phases, with the first phase covering the
rehabilitation and reconstruction of the existing 423-kilometer
railway line from Calamba, Laguna to Legazpi City, Albay. The second
phase will cover the construction of a new 135-km railway line from
Comun, Camalig, Albay to Matnog, Sorosogon.
-- Sammy Martin
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