Lacson To Provide Evidence Against ‘Rotten Fruits’ Of DPWH

There is evidence against the “low-hanging rotten fruits” in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) that Sen. Panfilo Lacson said he is ready to present to Secretary Vince Dizon.

“My office will provide you with damning evidence against some ‘low-hanging rotten fruits’ that will instill fear so that others will think twice before following their bad examples,” Lacson said in a statement on Saturday, Sept. 6.

“Godspeed, Sec. Vince Dizon. May the force be with you to cleanse the DPWH of greed and self-aggrandizement,” Lacson added. 

He said he will deliver the second part of his privilege speech on flood control corruption –  dubbed “Flooded Gates of Corruption” – on Wednesday, Sept. 10. 

Lacson earlier alleged that sacked district engineers Henry Alcantara and Bryce Hernandez were members of a “syndicate” within the DPWH behind ghost and flood control projects in Bulacan.

Hernandez was summoned by the Senate after he snubbed the previous Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing on the corruption scheme. 

Alcantara attended the hearing and admitted going to casinos with Hernandez. Government officials are prohibited from going to casinos.

In a dwIZ interview, Sen. JV Ejercito said he is looking forward to grilling two other Bulacan district engineers, Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza, who are Alcantara’s alleged accomplices and companions in his casino escapades.

Ejercito, during the previous Blue Ribbon hearing, described Hernandez as a high-roller who gambled millions of pesos. He also called out their group for living lavishly, including owning Ferrari cars and Patek Philippe watches.

He said they appeared to be the “most guilty” in the scheme, as he balked at suggestions that they be made state witnesses in the cases to be filed over the corruption scheme.

“They are the most guilty here, so I’m not sure if they will qualify as state witnesses,” Ejercito said.

Meanwhile, in a statement to Senate reporters, law firm Flaminiano Arroyo & Dueñas took exception to reports that described client Alcantara as the “alleged ‘kingpin’ of the Flood Control Ghost Projects in Bulacan.”

The law firm said Alcantara denied the accusations against him and that he “did not author these alleged ghost projects,” as the “wrongdoing was done behind his back, without his knowledge, acquiescence or approval.”

Alcantara’s lawyers issued the statement following his admission at the recent inquiry by the House of Representatives that it was he who issued a certificate of completion on a P55-million flood control project by SYMS Construction Trading in Baliwag, Bulacan that turned out to be non-existent. The same ghost project was earlier inspected by President Marcos.

The law firm said Alcantara will “fully ventilate his position and avail of all remedies before the proper forum in order to prove his innocence” amid his “summary dismissal” by Dizon.

Alcantara was found guilty in his administrative case of “disloyalty to the Republic of the Philippines and to the Filipino people, grave misconduct, gross neglect in the performance of duty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.”

Focus on Discaya firms

In the continuation of its own investigation on the anomalous flood control projects on Tuesday,  the infrastructure committee of the House of Representatives will focus on the companies controlled by couple Sarah and Curlee Discaya, said panel chair Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon.

“The ways on how they were able to join the biddings,” Ridon said at the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City, when asked about the focus of the questioning.

Ridon warned Discaya and other contractors that they would be cited in contempt and get arrested if they fail to attend the next hearing. 

The lawmaker said the committee would also discuss the insertion of a P96.5-million flood control project in Plaridel, Bulacan bagged by Wawao Builders which turned out to be a  ghost project.

On Friday, Sept. 5, the House committee on appropriations, chaired by Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Angela Suansing, deferred deliberations on the P881-billion proposed budget of the DPWH pending submission of revisions and adjustments from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), possibly by Sept. 12.

The committee approved the deferment upon the motion of ML Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima, who observed that even Dizon was having difficulty answering questions from committee members.

“You heard the questions so far, and quite understandable the good secretary is finding it difficult in answering many questions. Again understandable, the secretary said he is confused. He himself is having headache because of the review of the DPWH budget,” De Lima said.

“So at this point, I’m compelled to present a motion for this committee to direct the DBM and DPWH to submit any errata, any amendment, any new proposals, any new provisions with respect to the DPWH budget,” she added.

De Lima emphasized that the appropriations committee has every right to compel the DBM and DPWH to follow the directive because the panel had already lawfully acquired jurisdiction over the budget under the National Expenditure Program (NEP).

Suansing said proposals and revisions would be subjected to further deliberations and scrutiny by the committee on appropriations.

“We want to reassure members of this chamber as well as the public that once the DPWH submits the revised budget it will be closely scrutinized and deliberated on by the committee on appropriations on a later date. I will put it in the context of the committee deliberations, which at the moment we are scheduled to end Sept. 16, so that we can move to the plenary thereafter. So in light of that, we hope to schedule the next hearing of the DPWH (budget) within that week of Sept. 15 and 16,” she said.

‘Burden of proof’

Meanwhile, Sen. Erwin Tulfo said the “burden of proof” is on the senators and congressmen to explain their reported ties with government contractors involved in anomalous projects.

He was asked to comment on a report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) that at least three senators – Senate President Francis Escudero, Majority Leader Joel Villanueva and Bong Go – in one way or another have ties to government contractors, some of whom were identified as among the top firms in flood control projects. 

“They should be the ones to present evidence that they had no business with these contractors,” he said in Filipino.

Escudero disclosed in his 2022 Statement of Contributions and Expenditures that he received a P30-million donation from Lawrence Lubiano, president of Centerways Construction and Development Inc.

Villanueva’s 2022 campaign records also listed a P20-million donation from New San Jose Builders Inc.

Go, meanwhile, has been associated with firms linked to his relatives: CLTG Builders, reportedly run by his father; and Alfrego Builders, tied to his half-brother.

Finger-pointing and trading of accusations of hypocrisy have also erupted in the House with Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin accusing Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco of having billions of pesos channeled to his “small district.”

“I’m not diverting from the issue of controversial allocations. There’s also no question that Navotas, like many other areas, is prone to floods and needs government help,” Garbin said in a statement. 

“But I take issue with Congressman Tiangco’s hypocrisy against insertions when he himself had billions coursed to his small district. Worse, the contracts were bagged by contractors flagged by President Marcos and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH),” he added.

Garbin said Tiangco’s over P500 million in flood control funding is only the tip of the iceberg. “At the proper time, I will expose more of his insertions which run into the billions,” he warned.

In response, Tiangco said preparation of program of works and bidding of projects are not part of his function.

“I never intervene on that. I don’t even ask DPWH who are the bidders who won the project. In fact, the first time I asked the District Engineer (DE) was to check if the top 15 contractors have projects in Navotas,” Tiangco said in a statement.

“The second time was to ask if he is sure that all the projects of all the contractors, even those who are not included in the top 15 mentioned by the President, and the DE confirmed that all of them are OK. If I discovered anomalous project, I will be the first to complain,” he added.

Tiangco said the P529 million was the amount approved in the bicam from the requests for additional funding for Navotas.

“And I could not have made any insertion because I am not a member of the bicam. All I can do is make a request and the bicam decides,” Tiangco said.

At Malacañang, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin lashed out at some lawmakers for blaming the Executive branch for the budget controversy.  

“The Cabinet strongly objects to the recent spins coming from certain members of the House of Representatives who are thereby attempting to shift the blame for their own corruption and failures onto the Executive branch,” Bersamin said.

“The members of the Cabinet will not tolerate any attack on the integrity and reputation of the Executive branch, and any effort to hold the budget process hostage by political theatrics,” he added.  – With additional reports from Jose Rodel Clapano, Neil Jayson Servallos, Emmanuel Tupas and Alexis Romero