Could DPWH savings be spent to house families in ‘kariton’?

The photo (by Marianne Bermudez) on Page A15 of Inquirer’s May 26 issue deserved to be on the Front Page. The caption stated: “Laborers are silhouetted against the darkening sky on Roxas Boulevard, Manila, as they smash open broken masonry to retrieve the steel bars inside, which they hope to sell to junk shops.” Of the five silhouettes, three looked female. Probably, a kilometer away from them are casinos and five-star hotels: a picture of how things are in our society.

Talking about iron bars and cement, the good news is from Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson—so far, more than P30 billion has been saved due to the transparency in the public works bidding process that he had instituted (“DPWH saves P39B, cites its ‘full transparency,’” News, 5/21/15).

I hope even just 10 percent of those savings could be used to provide housing to the growing number of people living in “kariton.”

—REV. FR. LUIS P. SUPAN,

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