Masbate media: Probe ghost infrastructure projects

MANILA, Philippines — Local journalists have urged authorities to investigate alleged ghost road infrastructure projects in Masbate.

The Masbate Quad Media Society Inc. has called on the Commission on Audit (COA) and the Department of Public Works and Highways to probe alleged ghost road opening, rehabilitation and re-graveling projects in the past five years.

Masbate-based radio broadcaster Ramesis Sison told The STAR that COA failed to uphold due diligence in inspecting the road projects of the Masbate provincial government.

“In Masbate, farm-to-market roads are gravel and not asphalt or cement roads. The province has been so far behind other provinces when it comes to infrastructure,” Sison said in a recent interview.

“The graft and plunder of limited infrastructure funds allocated to Masbate is aggravating the already deplorable situation,” he added.

The media group investigated road projects declared complete by the provincial government in 2022, which amounted to more than P1 billion.

Graft and plunder charges were filed by the group against contractors and government officials before the ombudsman in October 2023.

Sison and other members of the group were cleared of murder charges last week by the Regional Trial Court Branch 49 in Cataingan, Masbate.

Presiding Judge Teofilo Tambago on July 25 recalled the arrest warrants issued against Sison and others over lack of probable cause in their alleged involvement in the murder of Virgil Arriesgado in August 2022, allegedly committed by communist rebels.