Jinggoy sees evaluators’ ‘cooperation’ in substandard projects
AUDITORS from the Commission on Audit should be invited to the next hearing of the Blue Ribbon Committee to shed light on “ghost” and substandard flood control projects in the country, according to Senate President pro tempore Jinggoy Estrada.
Estrada said while the Department of Public Works and Highways is the primary agency responsible for monitoring its projects, the possibility that COA auditors could have “cooperated” with the DPWH in the questionable projects cannot be discounted.
“Yes, they have to be present. Patatawag siguro natin sila — yung mga district engineers, of course, ng Bulacan and Mindoro, and pati yung COA kasi hindi magpo-prosper ang ghost project kung walang cooperation ng COA (Yes, they have to be present. We might invite them, the district engineers, of course, of Bulacan and Mindoro, and the COA because ghost projects will not prosper without COA’s cooperation),” he said in a chance interview on Wednesday night.
Billions worth of ghost and substandard flood control projects in Bulacan and Oriental Mindoro, together with those in Pampanga and La Union, were subject of a privilege speech delivered by Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Wednesday afternoon.
In the speech, Lacson said the flood control projects were funded through “congressional insertions” since most of them were not in the National Expenditure Program which is prepared by Malacañang.
Lacson said similar projects have been reported in the Davao Peninsula and the Bicol, Western Visayas, and Central Mindanao regions, and his office is validating the information.
Lacson also noted kickbacks of district engineers amounting to 2 to 3 percent of the actual project cost, and “passing through fees” amounting to 5 to 6 percent of the project cost, go to politicians who control a district where the project will be implemented.
He said politicians who are proponents of a project get 20 to 25 percent of the project cost, while 0.5 to 1 percent goes to the COA.
Estrada said he is not aware of the 0.5 to 1 percent which goes to COA but expressed belief auditors are involved in ghost projects.
“Basta ako, ang paniniwala ko, hindi magpo-prosper ang isang ghost project kung walang cooperation ang COA (As for me, I believe that ghost projects will not prosper without COA’s cooperation),” he added.
RESIGN CALLS
Sen. Francis Pangilinan, in a manifestation after Lacson’s privilege speech, said he was wondering why Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan has not resigned from his post considering the magnitude of issues surrounding flood control projects.
He expressed hope his question will be properly answered later, if not by Lacson, by Bonoan.
Lacson did not take questions after his speech. Minority leader Vicente Sotto III said Lacson was not feeling well and interpellations will be entertained during their regular session next week.
Pangilinan, so far, is the only senator who is eyeing Bonoan’s resignation.
Estrada declined to comment and said it is President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who should decide on Bonoan’s fate.
He added Bonoan may not be aware of what is happening on the ground, but “his problem is command responsibility.”
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, in an interview with radio dzBB yesterday, said Bonoan should not wait for the President to decide on his fate and instead, at least, voluntarily take a leave of absence out of “delicadeza.”
“It is hard to investigate yourself. Nothing will come out of it. I think, out of delicadeza, he should be doing that [take a leave of absence] so we can really see what went on inside [the DPWH] and who are those involved because these are not happening only now),” Gatchalian said in Filipino.
Rep. Elijah San Fernando (PL, Kamanggagawa) joined calls for Bonoan’s resignation, saying he is either “incompetent” or “corrupt.”
“If you are not aware of ghost projects in your agency, you’re incompetent. If you know but did not act on it, you’re corrupt. Pick, Secretary Bonoan,” he said in Filipino.
San Fernando said Bonoan should be held accountable because of the principle of “command responsibility.”
“You’re the President’s alter ego, spare PBBM the embarrassment. Be ashamed. Resign. Don’t wait to be fired,” he added.
REPLACEMENT FOUND?
Former Public Works and Highways secretary Rogelio Singson said there are “feelers” for him to join the administration to replace Bonoan.
“Definitely, may (there are) feelers. The President and I go a long way, when he was still a governor and then he became a senator,” Singson told ANC. “We’ve known each other in quite a lot of projects … I’m not a stranger to the President.”
Singson, however, said while he had been meeting with the President about administration’s Integrated Water Resources Management Program, he has informed the Chief Executive that his wife is against the idea of him returning to government.
“My wife will leave me already if I go back to government,” he said.
Singson served as public works chief from 2010 to 2016 under the late president Benigno Simeon Aquino III.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro was mum on the issue.
“Hintayin na lang po natin kung ano man ang desisyon ng Pangulo (Let us just wait for the President’s decision),” she said in a message to media.
COA AUDITOR’S WIFE
Sen. Erwin Tulfo said the Senate should also look into reports that a COA official’s wife is a contractor whose company was awarded a number of flood control projects in Bulacan.
Tulfo was referring to reports that COA commissioner Mario Lipana’s wife has been awarded nearly P200 million worth of flood control projects from the DPWH.
The report said the COA official’s wife, Marilou Laurio-Lipana, is the president and general manager of Olympus Mining and Builders Group Philippines Corp., based on documents from the DPWH.
According to the ‘Sumbong sa Pangulo” website, Olympus was awarded two flood control projects in San Miguel in Bulacan, both funded in 2023. The projects are a P91.67-million flood control structure along the upstream portion of San Miguel River and the other was worth P86.84 million for the downstream area.
On August 12, the COA issued a memorandum directing its Central Luzon office to conduct an audit fraud on DPWH flood control projects in Bulacan.
Tulfo said the Senate should include this in its investigation, saying “it really doesn’t sound good” since it there is a conflict of interest.
“What if it’s substandard? What if it’s a ghost [project]? How can you investigate your wife? … So, there is conflict of interest … I think that’s not right that your husband is from COA and you are a contractor. It is really a violation,” he said in Filipino in an interview with ABS-CBN.
TRICOMMITTEE
The House of Representatives on Wednesday night formed the tri committee to look into anomalous flood control projects even if majority leader Ferdinand Alexander Marcos, himself, is against it.
The plenary approved House Resolution No. 145 creating the tri-com, which is composed of the House Committees on Public Accounts, on Good Government and Public Accountability, and on Public Works and Highways.
The panel was created after the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) briefed the public accounts panel chaired by Rep. Terry Ridon (PL, Bicol Saro).
“Tri-com will hereinafter be called the House Infra Comm,” said Ridon, who earlier said the House may give way to a third-party investigating body if the names of congressmen will come out during the tri comm’s investigation.
The good government panel is chaired by Manila Rep. Joel Chua, while the public works panel is headed by Surigao del Sur Rep. Romeo Momo Sr.
Rep. Marcos last week said the House has no business investigating the failed flood control programs because the issue involves lawmakers and their contractors.
The presidential son has said lawmakers should just wait for results of an investigation being conducted by the DPWH on the orders of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Ridon said the tri-com will even invite fellow lawmakers, construction companies, and other high-ranking government officials if they are named in anomalous flood control or public works projects being investigated by the President.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Rep. Leila de Lima (PL, Mamamayang Liberal) objected to the tri-panel’s creation, saying it “would not be prudent on the part of this House as it might entail possible conflict of interest.”
“In short, the House itself investigating this issue, when there has been so many reports, when there has been so many speculations about the possible involvement of certain members of the House, this would not sit well to the public. It would impact significantly on the integrity and dignity of this institution,” she said.
Ridon, however, said not all the projects involve lawmakers and “Congress and the Senate have absolute oversight over any and every government agency.”
Ridon also said Vice President Sara Duterte is welcome to join the hearings but only if she has “personal knowledge on flood control anomalies.”
The Vice President on Monday said she has long been saying that Speaker Martin Romualdez and Rep. Zaldy Co (PL, Ako Bicol), former chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, were the two officials in control of the national budget.
The Vice President said both lawmakers and public works contractors must be held accountable for the failed flood control projects, claiming that private contractors practically act as “subordinates” of members of Congress.
Marcos, in his fourth State of the Nation Address on July 28, ordered the DPWH to review all completed, failed, unfinished, and even “ghost” flood control projects within the last three years, and submit to him a complete list.
The Chief Executive has vowed that someone would be held accountable for the recent massive flooding incidents in the country, particularly in Metro Manila which easily gets paralyzed during the rainy season.
The President has identified 15 contractors that he said 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. – With Wendell Vigilia
