December 17, 2025 l Business Mirror
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:21)
The Philippine Government is the largest spending entity and the biggest employer in the nation. It has the biggest budget hereabouts, so that the gross domestic product is partially determined by the level of government expenditure, consumer spending and investments.
Thus, when corruption infects the budget process, the s**t hits the fan; scattering inordinate filth to everyone in the room. Imagine a trillion-peso leakage in flood control projects alone. Just imagine the rest.
The corruption caravan covers the entire gamut of the budget process. From the provincial development councils that ideally gather barangay proposed projects, to the regional development council, to the various line agencies leading to the erection of the National Expenditure Program (also named as the President’s Budget), to the approval of both Houses of Congress and the finalization by the Bicameral Committee, to the final veto/approval of the president.
The after-the-fact audit is then supposedly done by the Commission on Audit. The most important part of the process is the “cost estimates,” which normally cover the design, engineering component, personnel and delivery. This is where cost padding, overbilling, inflated claims, rigged bidding and kickback mechanisms are established.
But it seems that even the “bible” of approved costs used by the government is already padded by about 30 percent, so just by following rules, crooked government people already shortchange the tax-paying public by that much. We discovered that anomaly when we chanced upon a gem of a book called “The Philippine Construction Cost” book published by Quantity Solutions Inc., with main Cost Authors Robert Alarcon and Rynor G, Jamandre (Member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors).
The publishers of this guidebook for efficiency and accountability have been vested with the “Highly Commended Quantity Surveying Team” by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Southeast Asia for 2024.
The data-driven financial compass grants readers access to accurate cost information. Available are verifiable data for more than 10,000 construction items and prices for “materials, labor and equipment.” It has a list of reliable suppliers and digitally convertible data, allowing for comparison among honest suppliers. It gives a fighting chance for honest contractors to compete (given verifiable data) against established monopolistic and often collusive cartels. It empowers the government to design better-proofed budgets and the state auditors to pinpoint irregularities.
The literature is all-encompassing, providing “cost ranges for civil, structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, sanitation, fire protection, communication and auxiliary systems.”
It even gives practical sample costings for various industries (15), including government types of projects like: high rise building, bare factory building, ice manufacturing plant, community wet market, 5-star hotels and buildings, premium hospitals, medical centers, public parking buildings, commercial buildings, regular steel warehouse, budget hotel, community mall, workers’ dormitory, off-grid farmhouse and cold storage and warehousing.
Globally, the nation has suffered reputational damage and financial downgrading due to the vast corruption, the biggest in recent memory. Being armed with this facts-laden book provides one a virtual crucifix against the thieving Draculas who have been pilloried from pillar to post by an angry public. It can be one antidote that could put order to chaos and make graft and corruption less easy an occupation for those in power.
***The views expressed herein are his own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of his office as well as FINEX. For comments, email bingo8dejaresco@gmail.com. Photo is from Pinterest.