At the end of five-hour hearing of key project players by the Senate Blue Ribbon and the public works committees, panel members still remained in the dark if there was indeed over-pricing.
"We cannot form that conclusion yet. We want more conclusive evidence," stressed Sen. Joker Arroyo, chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee.
The hearing also touched on the legality of the extension of a P1.1-billion loan to the project by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta said that the pieces of evidence submitted to the joint panel were not enough to enable them to make a conclusion.
Whistle-blower Sulficio Tagud, PEA director, claimed that the project was overpriced by P600 million, but this was denied by PEA officials led by chairman Ernest Villareal and deputy general manager Manuel Berina.
Berina insisted that the P584-million contract awarded to JD Legaspi Construction was not changed at all, and that the additional P291 million was paid for works not included in the contract. He also said that all costs were found reasonable and were approved by the Commission on Audit.
Charges and counter-charges between Tagud and former Samar Rep. Rodolfo Tuazon, now a PEA director, came toward the end of the hearing, with encouragement from Sen. Robert Jaworski and Sen. John Osmeña.
Tuazon claimed that Tagud had a history of delaying the approval of project cost adjustments, only to approve them later.
"Director Tagud did not even vote against the P291-million additional billings by JD Legaspi!" he added.
He said the only cost adjustment that Tagud voted against was one on project overrun/underrun being claimed by contractor JD Legaspi amounting to P79.3 million.
He said that this delaying tactic of Tagud, only to approve the adjustments later, has aroused his suspicion. Tuazon said this suspicion was "confirmed" when project contractor JD Legaspi "admitted" to him that he gave P2.1 million to Pelagio Lalap, PEA assistant general manager for finance and alleged intermediary of Tagud, for the approval of the cost adjustment.
Tagud and Lalap both denied Tuazon’s charge. Tagud charged back by claiming that Tuazon had admitted that he was in dire financial trouble and that was why he was pushing for the approval of the increase in the project costs.
Lalap said Tuazon tried to coerce him into implicating Tagud in an extortion activity.