PAGC chief meets with 3 senior PEA employees

Dario Rama, chairman of the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC), met yesterday with three senior employees of the embattled Public Estates Authority (PEA) to understand their sentiment and position on the "crisis" involving the alleged overpricing of the President Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard (PDMB).

Jose Antonio Cuenco, PEA marketing manager, told The STAR that Rama informed him early this week that he would like to meet with him at the PAGC office in Quezon City because he "wanted to hear the position of the employees with respect to the crisis." He said he was the only one requested by Rama to meet with him, but he decided to bring two other fellow senior employees. He said all the three members of their delegation were not in any way implicated in the latest PEA scandal.

In an interview, Cuenco said Rama learned of the PEA employees’ problems through newspaper reports. He said he pointed out to Rama the issue of the non-payment of the PEA "backpay" amounting to P37 million to P50 million.

The "backpay" problem of the PEA employees stemmed from the implementation of the Salary Standardization Law in 1989 which led to a cut in their salary.

However, the Supreme Court ruled that reductions in the salary of government personnel brought about by the Salary Standardization Law should be corrected in the form of "amelioration pay" or what PEA employees call now as "backpay."

Cuenco said that in the past 10 years, PEA employees have not received their "backpay." He raised the issue that while the PEA employees have been struggling to have their "backpay," the alleged overpricing of the PDMB was exposed.

"The PEA employees’ backpay is an issue because it is relevant to the topic at hand. If not properly addressed, it would lead to further demoralization of the employees and make them susceptible to graft and unrest," he said.

Cuenco said their delegation told Rama that the PEA employees wanted those involved in the PDMB scam be identified and punished and that "reforms" must be instituted at the PEA.

A segment of the PDMB was initially put at P500 million at the time it was awarded, but eventually ballooned to P800 million.

Cuenco said they were assured by Rama that the PAGC would conduct "an impartial and swift investigation." He described their meeting as "a very casual and pleasant conversation which covered a lot of areas."

He declined to give specifics of issues discussed during the meeting which was divided into two sessions, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, plunder charges would be filed today against several members of the PEA board, officials and the owner of the construction firm which built a segment of the controversial PDMB.

Dr. Carolina Araullo, convenor of a nongovernmental organization PlunderWatch, told The STAR that plunder charges would be "definitely filed today" at the Office of the Ombudsman.

The filing of plunder charges against PEA chairman Ernest Villareal, general manager Benjamin Cariño, director Rodolfo Tuazon and Jesusito D. Legaspi, sole owner of the J.D. Legaspi Construction (JDLC) which built 2.3 kilometers of the 5.1-km. road, had already been postponed twice.

Araullo, a convenor of one of the civil society groups supporting PEA director Sulficio Tagud Jr., said yesterday that Tagud’s exposé could be considered "the tip of the iceberg" among the corruption allegations against the Arroyo Administration.

Asked whether Tagud’s exposé on the PDMB may be compared with the exposé by Luis "Chavit" Singson, Araullo said, "At the moment, it is not yet comparable to the Singson exposé, which was the straw that broke the camel’s back. With this current exposé, I believe it is just the tip of the iceberg on corruption issues under this present administration."

Araullo said there was a need for "more exposes to show the possible culpability of the present government."

Tagud said the outpouring of support from NGOs indicated that these groups were "convinced" of his findings on the alleged anomaly.

"They are essentially joining me as taxpayers as complainants in this case," he told The STAR in a telephone interview.

Both Tagud and Araullo explained that lawyers of the civil society groups who wanted to be included as complainants needed time to study the documents and pieces of evidence.

Araullo said additional NGOs have expressed support for Tagud and their willingness to be included as complainants in the case. Initially, there were 15 NGOs that have backed Tagud.

"We want to make sure that we have strong evidence. We want to firm up whom we would to file the case against," Araullo said.

"There’s still the question whether to include the former board officials because the contract was awarded to JDLC during their time and it seems that it (contract) was already overpriced then," Araullo said.

But she said the cost adjustments in JDLC’s contract which amounted to "hundreds of millions" of pesos occurred under the new board.

JDLC’s contract to construct 2.3 kilometers of the PDMB on the Manila Bay reclamation area in Pasay City amounted to P584.3 million.

Documents obtained by The STAR showed that the 12-page Construction Agreement was signed by Legaspi and then PEA general manager Carlos P. Doble on April 10, 2000.

PEA board members have said the PDMB was "expensive but not overpriced."