By BNC staff
Corruption and incompetence were undermining the implementation of sound urban and infrastructure plans in the Philippines, with qualified professionals sometimes being bypassed in favor of less qualified firms, architect and urban planner Jun Palafox on Wednesday said.
Interviewed on Bilyonaryo News Channel’s “The Spokes” program, Palafox said good plans often failed not due to lack of expertise or viable proposals, but because political and institutional problems prevented qualified professionals from being tapped and projects from being properly implemented.
“Sometimes, we bid for a project, we are P15 million lower, they give it to maybe less qualified firm or people. Unfortunately, it’s still corruption,” Palafox said during the interview when asked why experts like him were not more deeply involved in major government projects.
Palafox said the problem became particularly damaging when it affected projects intended to protect communities from disasters, arguing that delays, poor implementation and allegedly nonexistent projects could translate into loss of life.
“Corruption kills. How many people were drowned? They could have dredged the rivers, the rainwater harvesting and so on,” the urban planner said.
He also cited the alleged “ghost,” or nonexistent, projects in the government’s flood control program, saying these represented a particularly serious misuse of public funds intended to protect communities.
Palafox argued that the government should prioritize preventive measures instead of waiting for disasters before addressing hazards, saying investments in disaster prevention could significantly reduce the human and economic costs of flooding.
“It’s 90 percent less expensive to address the hazards before they become disasters,” Palafox said, citing the need to protect lives, infrastructure and agriculture.
The architect also criticized the country’s tendency to plan around political and electoral cycles instead of pursuing long-term development goals.
“I was hired by Asian Development Bank to help as an external consultant for the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028. And I commented, how come our planning here is electoral calendar, not long-term visionary? It’s short-term and opportunistic,” he pointed out.
Palafox said his own planning practice took a longer view by developing strategies that extended well beyond individual administrations.
“That’s why at Palafox, what we do, immediate action, short-term, medium-term, long-term, and visionary. In fact, we plan towards 2050, well into 2100,” he said.