Palace wants probe of DPWH officials

Malacañang ordered yesterday a speedy investigation of a multimillion-peso anomaly at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) involving repairs of its service vehicles.

This developed as an ongoing internal audit of what has been described as one of the most corrupt government agencies, has uncovered P120 million worth of vehicle repair costs in just one year, with the amount expected to hit the P150-million mark.

Acting Press Secretary Silvestre Afable said the Arroyo administration does not condone corruption.

"This (investigation) should really be speeded up and people should be charged, and if found guilty, be put in jail for these acts of corruption," Afable said.

DPWH sources privy to the probe said the cost of repairs on brand-new vehicles acquired in 2000 but mysteriously ended up mothballed in the maintenance shops, kept soaring as more and more vouchers were unearthed.

A Commission on Audit (COA) report on the alleged anomaly involving repairs of service vehicles showed that from the initial P36 million for 2,000 job orders reflected in the internal audit report as of last year, the amount has swelled to P120 million even as the investigation is still going on.

Documents reportedly showed that the DPWH was charged P11 million in vehicle repair for just one week.

DPWH Secretary Simeon Datumanong said the probe is expected to be completed by the end of this month.

A DPWH official whose name often appeared as "payee" in the vouchers has reportedly went on emergency leave since Tuesday following newspaper reports on the investigation.

The five-man fact-finding panel formed by Datumanong to look at the irregularity sifted through 7,000 vouchers involving 600 vehicles, bringing the cost of repairs to P120 million as of the latest tally.

One of the investigators noted that of the P120 million, only a negligible amount appeared to have been spent for labor, while the huge chunk purportedly went to the acquisition of spare parts.

The source said under COA rules, the old and defective parts should be properly stored.

"But with that amount for repairs, these old parts could occupy a warehouse as big as Araneta Coliseum," he said.

The DPWH resident auditor pointed out that the documents indicated blatant attempts to cheat the government through double billings.

To circumvent the rule limiting to P25,000 the cost of repair jobs exempted from public bidding, erring officials and employees reportedly split the costs to bring the amounts to below P25,000.

The panel also noted that the disbursement receipts were apparently tampered, with certain DPWH officials appearing as the payees.

Datumanong, in Department Order No. 15 dated Jan. 9, 2002, tapped his chief of staff, Lorenzo Sulaik, to head the investigation. The anomalous transactions were reportedly part of the corruption eating away at the DPWH long before Datumanong’s appointment in mid-2001.

Based on copies of the documents acquired by The STAR, the bulk of the funds disbursed for the vehicle repairs went to only six contractors, with one of them cornering half of the entire business for 2001.

The Bulacan-based DEB company reportedly accounted for 1,005 of the 2,000 vehicle repair requirements of the DPWH, with Olympus company a far second with 371 transactions, JCAP company third with 249 repair contracts and with the companies Franz and Vicsan left with 150 and 126 repair requirements, respectively. All the remaining repair transactions between other contracting companies and the DPWH totaled only 99 repair contracts.

However, DEB reportedly earned only P13 million — just P4 million more than Olympus’ gain, which collected over P9 million — an indication that while DEB cornered most of the job orders, they basically involved minor repairs.

By contrast, JCAP earned almost P6 million, while Franz and Vicsan profited less than P3 million each. All the other contractors were paid a total of P2.5 million.

In the department order for the probe that Datumanong issued, DPWH legal department chief Oscar Abundo was designated vice-chairman of the panel, along with Bureau of Fire Equipment director Abraham Divina Jr., while its members were DPWH accounting division director Emily Tanquintic and internal audit director Irene Ofiada.

Abundo is on leave while Ofiada retired before the probe could be completed.

Sulaik could not be reached for comment on the status of the DPWH probe, while Datumanong was reportedly on sick leave. — With Jose Aravilla