By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

Bisto Proyekto, a civil society-led, web-based app, hopes to encourage the public to help monitor public infrastructure projects using only their mobile devices.

Launched in February, the platform, Bisto.ph, compiles data on infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), along with their general details and supporting documents, including procurement contracts.

The name “Bisto” — Hiligaynon for “exposed” or “found out” — captures the initiative’s aim of bringing project details into public view. It comes amid heightened national scrutiny of government flood-control spending, which has been the subject of congressional inquiries over substandard and so-called “ghost” projects.

But what makes the platform unique is that it lets the public take part by sharing their observations and uploading photos, so others can track a project’s progress or, once it is finished, judge whether it serves its intended purpose.

Screenshots of the Bisto.ph website. (via Joseph Bernard A. Marzan)

On Tuesday, June 16, a local team of Bisto volunteers — civil society groups from across Western Visayas — inspected two DPWH projects in Oton, Iloilo: a dike with a pumping station in Poblacion and a seawall in Poblacion South.

Bisto.ph volunteers use the web-based app during inspections of nationally funded projects in Oton, Iloilo. (Joseph Bernard A. Marzan photos)

At a symposium at the University of the Philippines Visayas in Iloilo City, volunteers shared their experiences observing the two projects.

Eloize Victoriano, program manager of Abante Aklan, said the dike was barely visible at first glance, with the project dominated instead by the pumping station, and the pumping gates mounded with garbage.

“What welcomed us was an [open] dumping site, because what we saw were lots of trash. What was being monitored was a dike, but where was the dike? Because we were expecting that the dike would be really visible,” Victoriano said.

“I was wondering, because there was a pumping station, but where was the water? And when we went up [to the pumping station], and [as an] environment advocate, it really disturbed me because we are addressing the flood, and here on this side, trash was piled up.”

“The pumping station is a white elephant. That’s why I kept asking, who identifies the project? Is it the people who need this project, or somebody? […] The dike was so small,” she added.

Civil engineer Carlos Somosierra Jr. said the state of the dike-and-pumping-station project raised questions about how the location and the project itself were nominated, as well as the project’s design and implementation.

He said that in the private sector, firms go through in-house contractors and consultants to determine the proper location for a project, or the proper project for a location.

He added that when he previously worked on a similar project with the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the strainers on their pumping stations were diagonal, compared with the vertical ones in the DPWH project in Oton.

“Here in the Philippines, we couldn’t remove the fact that our waterways are [treated as] garbage dumping areas. The design of the strainer, which should have strained the garbage, is vertical. We were able to work on MMDA projects in Manila, and we couldn’t choose [the design], it was diagonal,” Somosierra shared.

“The trash above the water was [properly] strained by the diagonal [strainer], and the water, even with the trash, could move the trash up. In a vertical [design], when the trash gathers [to block] the strainer, it could no longer be usable,” he added.

The June 16 inspection was only the latest conducted by volunteers using the Bisto.ph app.

Bisto’s team leader in Iloilo, Faye Joy Pabiona — who also serves as knowledge management officer and project manager of the Iloilo Caucus of Development Non-Government Organizations Inc. (ICODE NGO) — said the group has carried out various project inspections since February.

From February to May, the team monitored 39 sites, including 19 projects in Iloilo City, four each in the towns of Dumangas and Maasin, three in Cabatuan, two in Oton, and one each in Pavia, San Miguel, Alimodian, Janiuay, Tigbauan, Leganes, and Sta. Barbara.

Across those inspections, the group found that community consultations were not done properly; projects passed through several layers of subcontracting; right-of-way issues were not settled on time; reported accomplishments did not match actual ones; feedback mechanisms were not accessible; project sites were tagged incorrectly; projects had no social-impact monitoring; and projects were not properly turned over to barangays.

“There were minor attention needed, and there were major. There were also projects that, when we went to the site, it was not there. We went to the barangay, and we were told that there were no flood control projects here and that we weren’t the only ones who came there,” Pabiona said of one experience.

“There were also works that, even if we did not have background in engineering, we saw that the works were not good enough. There were also sites which were completed last year but had already deteriorated after one year,” she added.

Pabiona also cited the challenges volunteers faced, including the absence of transparency boards on site, a lack of information from barangays, contractors’ refusal to disclose basic information, volunteers’ technical and technological limitations, unpredictable internet connections, exhaustion from extreme heat — especially among elderly volunteers — high transportation costs, and risks to volunteers’ safety and security.

Emmanuel Areño, ICODE NGO executive director and Bisto Proyekto regional director for Western Visayas, said the app was a response to bad governance that has led to poor project performance and, in the case of flood-control projects, has directly affected residents.

Areño said the project lets people share their plain observations without having to point to anyone who may be at fault.

“Here, […] We could give way, we wouldn’t go against others, and we are not inquisitors who would point who would be at fault. For us, this is just evidence, proof that we visited the place. [Bisto.ph] has all the important information about the project,” Areño said.

Areño added that the project is not limited to the web-based app but extends to community interviews that gauge a project’s social impact.

He cited a recent inspection of a river-control project in Iloilo City with two components and a cost of about PHP 300 million; at 25% completion at the time, it had used only an estimated PHP 10 million.

The catch, he said, was that there was no flooding in the area — and that the community’s actual problem was a defective bridge.

“We are not engineers, but by the way of the very clear evidence, as it shows. This is not just about the engineering. There is also a social audit here. We also ask the community about the impact of these projects. Were they consulted about the project? Why is there a project there?” Areño added.

Dondon Parafina, project director of Taongbayan Action for Participatory Accountable and Transparent Governance (TAPAT) — one of the project’s lead organizations — said the ultimate goal of Bisto Proyekto is correction.

He said that because of the project and the group’s existing partnerships with the DPWH, some projects have already been corrected following the volunteer-led inspections.

“With Bisto, we hold the truth, and we won’t let it go. There will be hope that things will change. It’s not just about telling the truth, it’s also about holding people accountable when needed. Bisto [as a word] is sometimes scary to listen to, but when you go deeper, there will be learnings,” Parafina said.

Parafina added that Bisto Proyekto is just one of the group’s anti-corruption projects. The others include Saba Diha, a radio program that serves as their communication and education platform, and Bisto Protekt, a professional and technical team that helps ensure reports on the Bisto.ph platform can be escalated to legal action.