MANILA — Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson detailed what he called a “corruptionary” or dictionary of corrupt practices that allegedly enabled syndicates in government to siphon at least half of the P1.9 trillion allocated for flood control projects over the past 15 years.

“In the course of our research and investigation, we encountered several words – their meanings, we could not find in the dictionary. So we looked somewhere else. Alas! We found them – in the ‘corruptionary,’” Lacson said in a privilege speech.

Among the terms cited were Distinct, Reseta, Passing Through/Parking Fee, and Funders, which he said described schemes within the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and by politicians who manipulated project funds.

According to Lacson, Distinct refers to multiple budget items in the General Appropriations Act with the same contract cost, a “coded budget” indicating project ownership. He pointed to the Bulacan first engineering district, formerly headed by Henry Alcantara and Brice Hernandez, where several riverbank protection projects costing P77.199 million each turned out to be ghost projects.

“This is well-orchestrated by an organized network of people who abuse their power. May isang grupo sa loob ng 1st District Engineering Office ng Bulacan na kilalang ‘sindikato’ ng mga substandard at ‘ghost’ projects,” he said.

Reseta, Lacson said, is the 2 to 3 percent kickback demanded by the District Engineering Office, likened to a doctor’s prescription that contractors must “swallow.”

The terms Passing Through or Parking Fee refer to the 5 to 6 percent “royalty” collected by politicians controlling a district, while Funders are politicians who insert projects into the budget and take 20 to 25 percent of project costs.

He cited a case in Barangay Mulawin, Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, where flood control projects ballooned from P810 million in the National Expenditure Program to P1.9 billion in the House version of the budget, with an additional P1.1 billion allegedly inserted.

Lacson broke down typical flood control project expenses: 5 percent for Value-Added Tax, 2 percent for withholding tax, 1 percent for bonds and insurances, 1 percent for materials testing, and 8 to 10 percent for contractors’ profit. He said the remaining funds were further cut for kickbacks, including:

• 8-10% for DPWH officials, with at least 6% for district engineers
• 2-3% for the District Engineering Office
• 5-6% for members of the Bids and Awards Committee
• 0.5-1% for the Commission on Audit
• 5-6% for “passing through” fees to politicians
• 20-25% for funders of the projects

“The depth of corruption has become so overwhelming that it drowns us in our sad state: More than flood control, what the Filipino people badly need to see is greed control,” Lacson said.