Newly appointed Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon has scrapped the anti-graft committee established by his predecessor, Manuel Bonoan, declaring it improper for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to investigate its own officials and employees accused of corruption.
Instead, Dizon said he will defer to the independent commission being formed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to take charge of probing anomalies inside the DPWH.
“With all due respect to the officials who formed the task force, I do not believe that the organization should investigate itself. It does not seem right,” Dizon told reporters on Tuesday during the reopening of the HD Hyundai Shipyard in Subic, Zambales, where he joined Marcos as a guest.
According to the new secretary, he understood why then-Secretary Bonoan created the DPWH Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Committee, since at the time, Marcos had yet to approve an independent probe into the irregularities surrounding the agency’s flood control projects.
“But now that there is one, it will be better to respect the wisdom of the president. So I will have to dissolve it today,” he added.
The move effectively hands over the authority to investigate DPWH corruption cases to the presidentially sanctioned body, reinforcing Marcos’ control over the direction of graft probes in one of the country’s most graft-prone agencies.