THE chair of the House Committee on Public Accounts yesterday said two projects visited by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in Calumpit town in Bulacan earlier this month were not inserted by lawmakers in the national budget but proposed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
The case is like that of the “ghost” project in Baliuag, Bulacan that the President inspected on August 20, said Rep. Terry Ridon (PL, Bicol Saro).
Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan, in a chance interview at the House on Tuesday night, vowed to verify if the three Bulacan projects mentioned by Ridon were DPWH-proposed “but for as long as it is a ghost project, then we’ll have to file the necessary charges against those who are included into this program.”
He denied having benefited from the ghost and sub-standard projects. “Absolutely no my part. No, no, no, no… I don’t tolerate this kind of attitude,” Bonoan said when asked if he could confidently say he did not benefit from any infrastructure project.
Ridon said the Calumpit projects, which Marcos inspected on August 15, were part of the DPWH’s proposed budget in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) that Malacañang submitted to Congress for fiscal years 2022 and 2023.
He said one of the two, the P96.4-million rehabilitation of river protection structure project in Barangay Bulusan in Calumpit, was implemented by the DPWH First District Engineering Office and the St. Timothy Construction Corporation. It was in the 2022 NEP and in budget law, the 2022 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
“The St Timothy project was in the Duterte administration-proposed 2022 NEP and 2022 GAA, but it was completed during the Marcos administration on 2 Feb. 2023,” Ridon said.
The other project, the P77.19-million construction of flood mitigation structures in Barangay Frances, was implemented by the DPWH First District Engineering Office and Wawao Builders. It was in the 2023 NEP and the 2023 GAA, he said.
The project has also reportedly already shown signs of concrete deterioration, with exposed loose cables and wires.
The House Infrastructure Committee, earlier called the Tri Committee, will begin its investigation into anomalous flood control projects on Tuesday next week.
The joint panel is composed of the Ridon panel and the House committees on Good Government and Public Accountability and on Public Works and Highways.
The President has identified 15 contractors that secured nearly 20 percent of the P545.64 billion allocated for flood control from July 2022 to May 2025.
About 20 percent of all projects, valued at roughly P100 billion, went to these contractors — five of which had projects in nearly all regions.
Ridon earlier said the P55.7 million “ghost” flood control project in Baliuag, Bulacan was also not a congressional insertion.
He said the reinforced concrete river wall project in Purok 4, Barangay Piel in Baliuag, which was implemented by the DPWH in the province’s First Engineering District, was in the 2025 NEP. The project was paid in full on June 30 and was awarded to contractor SYMS Construction Trading.
“There should be criminal charges for ghost projects. If it’s a P55-million project na pinera (that was pocketed), ‘di ba plunder na yun? (isn’t that plunder?)” Ridon told reporters on Tuesday night.
Ridon said the tri comm will see the level Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan’s responsibility, adding that Bonoan should be held responsible if he will be found to have failed “to check at the level of the central office or at the level of the regional director.”
