SOME P7.3 billion has been wasted on more than 60 “ghost” flood control projects nationwide, Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee said yesterday.
At the second committee hearing on substandard and ghost flood control projects, Marcoleta said this was according to information that reached him after a conscience-stricken district engineer confessed to resigned Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan the matter.
At the House, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia said the poll body has so far found 31 contractors who possibly donated to the campaign kitty of candidates who ran for national positions in the 2002 elections.
Garcia spoke before the budget hearing of the House Committee on Appropriations on the questioning of Marikina City Rep. Miro Quimbo, and vowed to furnish the panel a list of the contractors’ names.
The Comelec started looking into the candidates’ statements of contributions and expenditures after the President launched a probe into the questionable flood control projects of the DPWH.
Marcoleta, in his opening statement, said Bonoan, before resigning, gave the assurance he will furnish the panel the detailed list of 15 to 17 ghost flood control projects, but only two were provided.
“We have information that a certain district engineer confessed to you that the amount of P7.3 billion was used for ghost projects. P7.3 billion! So, on the assumption that each project will cost P100 million each, easily, the ghost projects would be at the vicinity of something like 70 ghost projects,” Marcoleta said in Filipino, speaking to Bonoan attended the hearing despite his resignation which took effect yesterday.
He also said Bonoan submitted documents which he found vague, which he said suggested there were 15 to 17 projects with no structures, which could indeed be ghost projects.
To get answers, Marcoleta said, he instructed his staff members to check the President’s complaint portal, from which they found that the ghost projects would reach around 60.
“There are 60 indicative of ghost projects, of which others were confirmed in the report of Sen. Ping (Panfilo Lacson) when he delivered a privilege speech. To our list, there could be around 60 ghost projects,” he added.
Marcoleta then asked Bonoan if he is still “comfortable” to answer senators’ queries, to which he asked to be excused as he only attended the inquiry as a respect the subpoena ad testificandum issued by the committee.
“I would like to make it on record that President Marcos has accepted my resignation as DPWH secretary effective today, September 1, 2025. In view of this circumstance, since I am no longer the secretary, I don’t have the official capacity to represent the department,” Bonoan said, to which Marcoleta acceded.
Later during the hearing, Marcoleta said the district engineer he was referring to was Henry Alcantara, formerly of the 1st Bulacan engineering district and now assigned as the assistant regional engineer of the Southern Tagalog region.
“Someone told me, very reliable information, that you confessed to Secretary Bonoan,” he said.
Alcantara said he only reported to Bonoan on the possible ghost projects in Bulacan but said he did not give figures.
“There is no such theory,” he said in Filipino.
Marcoleta said there is “someone” who would want to testify that it was Alcantara who confessed.
“It’s your word against his because he was stricken by his conscience. He would really want to tell all,” he said.
Marcoleta said the two confirmed ghost projects detailed in Bonoan’s submission was in Barangay Perez, Bulacan, Bulacan; and a river wall in Baliwag, Bulacan, which were both under Alcantara’s former jurisdiction.
He said information also showed that the DPWH issued show cause orders on Alcantara, and Brice Ericson Hernandez, former assistant district engineer of Bulacan 1st Engineering District.
Marcoleta said that still based on information, the DPWH awarded the supposed ghost flood control projects to Silverwolves Construction Corp. (five projects), St. Matthew’s Construction Corp. (four), Ultimax Construction Corp. (four), Jagon Build Construction, SYMS Construction Trading, M3 Construction Corp., Darcy and Anna Builders, MD Samidan Construction Company, with three each.
He said that there were “several other” companies awarded the supposed ghost projects.
“There are 60 projects na kandidato sa ghost projects (There are 60 candidates for ghost projects),” he added.
‘NOTORIOUS’
Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said the Bulacan 1st Engineering District is the most notorious among the DPWH districts due to reports of anomalies in government projects.
Alcantara said when he was still the district engineer in Bulacan, he ordered Hernandez, being then assistant engineer, to conduct an inventory of all projects under their jurisdiction from 2022 to 2025.
Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza, chief of the construction division of the 1st Engineering District of Bulacan, were not around despite being invited to the hearing prompting Ejercito to move that arrest warrants be issued against them.
Alcantara said Hernandez reported there were no anomalies in the projects when he conducted an inventory. He said he later learned from other engineers that there were unfinished or defective projects which were already paid without his approval.
He admitted to being negligent as he did not personally conducted the inventory and relied mainly on Hernandez and Mendoza.
Alcantara said he reported the matter to Bonoan.
Ejercito said Hernandez has been “controversial” due to his luxurious lifestyle — owning a Ferrari sports car, and for frequenting casinos where he would reportedly bet millions of pesos.
He said he also has information that Hernandez will report to the engineer district office at around 10 a.m. then will leave the place at 2 p.m.
Alcantara admitted going with Hernandez and Mendoza to the casino two to three times a month.
MOCK BIDDINGS
Senate President pro tempore Jinggoy Estrada said he has information that nine companies which Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya either owns or have interests in have been joining “mock” biddings.
Discaya is the owner of Alpha and Omega General Contractor and Development Corp. who also ran for Pasig City mayor in the last elections but lost. She has interests in eight other construction companies either owned by relatives or dummies.
Estrada said the companies were bidding against each other in government contracts so they can corner government projects.
Discaya denied conducting such irregular bidding, but later admitted when pressed by Estrada.
Alpha and Omega and St. Gerard do not join bidding for one project. But the other licenses, they sometimes all join,” Discaya said in Filipino after Estrada threatened to secure records from the DPWH to validate the mock biddings.
Alpha and Omega, and St. Timothy were among the 15 contractors identified by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that were awarded some P100 billion worth of government projects.
Discaya admitted having interests in St. Matthew General Contractor and Development Corp., Elite General Contractor and Development Corp., Amethyst Horizon Builders and General Contractor and Development Corp., YPR General Contractor and Construction Supply Inc., Great Pacific Builders and General Contractor Inc., and Way Maker One Person Corp.
St Gerard and Great Pacific have Sarah’s husband, Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya, listed as owner, while St. Timothy is owned by Roma Angeline Discaya Rimando, Pacifico’s niece.
The other companies are either owned by Discaya’s sons, close relatives, or their former employees.
According to the citizen portal www.sumbongsapangulo.ph, which lists all supposedly completed flood control projects in the country, the nine Discaya-owned construction firms were awarded more than 400 government contracts amounting to around P30 billion from 2022 up to the present.
Estrada told Discaya, “That is not a legitimate bidding because the nine companies which are owned by an individual bid against each other. So, whoever wins in the bidding, you will benefit from it because you own them all).”
‘SPLICED’ VIDEO
During the hearing, Discaya also said the viral interviews of journalists before the campaign period were spliced by unknown individuals to make it appear that her family’s wealth came solely from being a DPWH contractor.
She said their family has been into the construction business for 23 years now and it would not be a surprise if she has earned billions of pesos.
“So I would presume that in 23 years, we can earn that much. We were getting contracts from local government units before we entered DPWH projects, because you know how hard it is to collect from local governments. They spliced that video that was taken of me and just mentioned DPWH,” she said in mixed Filipino and English.
Senate minority leader Vicente Sotto III asked if the news channels and the journalists who interviewed her could have edited her answer, to which she said, “I think so.”
“Kasi (Because) I did mention [during the interview] that I was doing local government as well as private,” she added.
She said their companies started to join the biddings for government projects in 2012 and ventured into flood control projects in 2016.
She also denied that they have a DPWH “insiders” who they pay at least 40 percent of the total project cost just to be awarded the contract.
SARAH’S 40 VEHICLES
Discaya admitted owning around 40 vehicles, of which 28 were luxury ones which she said the family uses.
She said the 28 luxury vehicles were bought through luxury car importers Frebel Enterprises and Autoart Luxury Cars, with a combined value close to P200 million.
Her family’s car collection includes a Rolls Royce Cullinan worth P42 million, Mercedes Benz Maybach (P22 million), Bentley Bentayga (P20 million), Mercedes Benz-AMG Wagon G63 (20 million), two units of Cadillac Escalade (worth P11 million each), two units of GMC Yukon Denali (P11 million each), Range Rover Autobiography (P16 million), Range Rover Defender (P7 million), Range Rover Evoque (P5 million), and Chevrolet Suburban (P3 million).
During the media interviews, Discaya said she bought the Roll Royce car since she was amazed by the umbrella tucked in the side door.
CHARGES
State auditor Tracy Ann Sunico said the Commission on Audit will file charges against DPWH officials and contractor identified with the anomalous flood control projects, adding that the agency is just finalizing the fraud audit reports.
Sunico made the assurance after Dela Rosa said COA has apparently failed to flag the projects before the release of the final payment.
Sunico said COA has already issued notice of disallowances for the construction companies who failed to submit disbursement vouchers, especially those linked to such projects in Bulacan.
She said COA chair Gamaliel Cordoba was not able to attend the hearing as he was preoccupied in the preparations for the case filing which will be sometime this month. – With Wendell Vigilia
