NEWS & OPINION

High-ranking DPWH official’s lifestyle needs Duterte scrutiny

Remember the high-ranking official of the Department of Public Works and Highways who was in the news recently for allegedly living the high life?

Well, President Duterte should order a lifestyle check against this official. Rumors persist that this official is flaunting expensive cars, jewelry, and signature clothes, uncharacteristic for a government bureaucrat whose pay as everyone knows precludes indulgence in such luxuries.

The said official, a former functionary at the City Hall of Manila, is now being pointed at as seeking more under-the-table arrangements with contractors doing business with the DPWH, enough for the NBI and the Ombudsman to take notice. The dealings of this official, we were told by sources at the City Hall, are of the highest level, or should we say, of the highest amount?

The sources say that City of Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada has fumed when informed of the official’s shenanigan so that he had alerted the NBI and the Ombudsman about it.

But there is more!

According to the same City Hall sources, the DPWH official allegedly owns True Religion, a high-end boutique establishment at the Conrad Hotel on Coral Way, Seaside Boulevard, Pasay City where he is reported to be seen often with his starlet girlfriend. And while he is at it, the official is giving the impression that he will be soon assuming the post of DPWH undersecretary, boasting that he has “connections” to the President’s family and that some Malacanang officials are in “his lists”. Brave, this official.

Clue: The DPWH executive, who was kicked out by DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson but has made a comeback, boasts that he used to be Sen. Bong Revilla’s and Sen. Manny Villar’s fair-haired boy, but now is on his own. (VerGarciaBlogs)