Senate blocks payment for P20-billion Chinese CCTV project

(Eagle News) — The Senate has moved to block payment for the Chinese-offered “Safe Philippines Project” in its version of the 2019 national budget.

In a statement, Senator Ralph Recto said the Senate has included two provisions which have this effect on the CCTV-based emergency response system that was supposed to pilot in Metro Manila and Davao City.

The first provision, under the Unprogrammed Fund section of the national budget, specifies that no amount appropriated “shall be utilized for any project intended for public video surveillance and communication system with suppliers or service providers that are considered as serious risks to national security or interest or are involved in cases regarding information leakage, computer or network hacking, and other forms of cyber espionage, whether in the Philippines or in other countries.”

The second provision, lists the foreign-assisted projects which may draw from authorized appropriations for fiscal year 2019.

The Safe Philippines Project, however, is not among the 13 projects listed.

According to Recto, the move was decided on as the “vetting and approval” of the project has all the hallmarks of a behest transaction, “lacking in studies, consultations, validation.”

“We have asked for documents from the lead appraisal authority, the (National Economic Development Authority), and they cannot provide us any. Manipis na, minadali pa. Usually the documentation for a project of this size is voluminous. In this case, halos walang maibigay,” he said.

Recto said the “alarming trend” of the executive bloating the public debt by agreeing to donor-driven loans “must be slowed down, more so if the process lacks transparency.”

“Marami kasing salesmen at ahente ng foreign projects. So instead of asking funds through the appropriations route, uutangin na lang, tapos ang bayad ipapasa sa Kongreso at taxpayers bilang kasama sa debt service na automatically appropriated,” he explained.