When former Bulacan 3rd District Representative Lorna Silverio declared: “Ito lang kalaban namin sa pulitika ang pilit na kinukonek ako sa issue. Honestly, wala talaga akong ghost project,” it was not a defensive whimper, it was a battle cry. The statement slices through the haze of political intrigue that has recently clouded Bulacan, exposing what is at play – a calculated effort to malign a name that continues to matter.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Bulacan, through District Engineer Edgardo Pingol, has already clarified that there is no ghost project in San Miguel. What critics branded a “missing” dike, Pingol explained, was not a phantom at all, it was relocated to another site in Barangay San Juan. This is no small point. For too long, the phrase “ghost project” has been hurled carelessly, instantly conjuring images of pocketed funds and vanished structures. But as this case shows, not every “missing” project is fraudulent. Sometimes, flood control works are shifted for technical, environmental, or engineering reasons.
However, that does not absolve the DPWH of responsibility. Relocation, while legitimate, must always come with transparency and documentation. As Pingol himself admitted, the two dikes were relocated but unless the agency can show the paperwork, specify where the funds went, and demonstrate that communities were informed, suspicion will only fester. Relocating a project is one thing; refusing to show the papers is another. Taxpayers demand for proof and not platitudes.
It also can be claimed that the Silverios remain a force to reckon with in Bulacan. That is why their adversaries are desperate to taint them, dragging their name into every controversy, no matter how flimsy. Bulacan, after all, has become the epicenter of the flood control fiasco now hounding politicians, contractors, and government officials alike. Yet amid this political storm, Silverio can point to real, lasting contributions. The integrated development plan she set since 2001 has left behind concrete legacies – the Bulo Dam completed, the Bayabas Dam underway – projects undertaken with the National Irrigation Administration, not the figments of “ghosts.” Silverio also pointed to other major accomplishments under this plan: The Plaridel Bypass Road that connected the district to NLEX; the circumferential road linking the mountain town of Doña Remedios Trinidad to the lowland municipalities of Angat, San Rafael, San Ildefonso, and San Miguel; as well as vital connections to Pampanga, Dingalan in Aurora Province, and San Jose del Monte. These are arteries of growth, not shadows of fraud.
The louder the noise, the easier it is to see what’s going on, someone wants the Silverios dragged down. Their political weight in Bulacan is still there, and that’s what their rivals can’t stand. But smear jobs have a way of turning on those who start them. At the end of the day, Bulacan isn’t haunted by missing dikes, it’s haunted by the lack of straight answers from people who’d rather peddle rumors than face the facts.
