Sen. Panfilo Lacson is calling for a review of the law that created the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) as he disclosed recent reports claiming the agency is engaged in “accreditation for sale.”
Lacson raised the matter after Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros pressed for answers on Wednesday on how contracts were awarded to favored contractors and biddings were fixed without punishment.
She also questioned how blacklisting could be enforced when erring firms simply set up new companies to bid again.
“The real culprit is collusion,” Lacson said, noting that Republic Act 4566—the law establishing PCAB under the Department of Trade and Industry—may have enabled the abuse. Under that law, no contractor may operate without a PCAB license.
Lacson claimed he had received reports that PCAB and its umbrella agency, the Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines (CIAP), were issuing licenses for a price.
“I talked to some private contractors—they’ve had this experience. They’ll take care of the bank certificate and other requirements, for a fee of P2 million for the first time,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III added that a contractor linked to a ghost project in Bulacan—one that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself inspected—had its PCAB license renewed from 2025 to 2027, allowing it to continue joining large public works contracts.
‘PCAB made it possible’
“How can this happen?” Sotto asked.
Lacson replied that PCAB made it possible. He said the issue will be taken up again when the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee holds its second hearing Monday on substandard and ghost flood control projects.
Lacson also backed Sotto’s proposal to extend the blacklisting period for erring contractors from one year to as long as five years. He warned of “interlocking directorships” among firms, saying many corporations bidding for flood control projects share the same directors. “This is a practice committed by unscrupulous corporations that deal with government,” he said.
Lifestyle check
Separately, Hontiveros said lawmakers should volunteer for lifestyle checks amid allegations that some had benefited from anomalous flood control projects.
“Nothing is stopping us from doing that. If it is ordered by the two chambers of Congress, I see no problem in all of us joining,” she said at the Kapihan sa Senado forum Thursday.
She backed Sotto’s suggestion that lawmakers’ spouses be included. She added that President Marcos, who had ordered lifestyle checks on public officials, should lead by example by releasing his own statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).
Hontiveros said lawmakers should lead by example and volunteer for lifestyle checks, but added that the ultimate test lies with President Marcos himself.
“He was the one who ordered lifestyle checks on public officials,” Hontiveros said. “He should start with his own office, and he can do that by making public his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).”
