PEA board under Estrada faces raps

Plunder charges are set to be filed next week against the former members of the Public Estates Authority (PEA) board of the Estrada administration for their involvement in the alleged overpricing of the construction of President Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard (PDMB), according to scam whistle-blower Sulficio Tagud Jr.

"That’s what my lawyers said. The old board would be included in amended complaint in the case that we filed before the Ombudsman," Tagud told The STAR.

He stressed that the members of the old PEA board of directors became the "starting point" in the overprice anomaly.

He said the board, whose members were appointed by then President Joseph Estrada, had awarded the contract to JD Legaspi Construction (JDLC) in 1999 and signed the construction agreement the following year.

The original contract price of JDLC was P584 million for the construction of 2.3 kilometers of the 5.1 kilometer-long PDMB. The contract price then went up to P837 million citing several "additional works" and a supposed P42 million price adjustment.

Frisco San Juan, former chairman of the PEA board, however maintained he had "nothing to explain" about JDLC’s contract.

In a telephone interview, San Juan said he was not a signatory of the contract since it was already signed by then PEA general manager Carlos Doble and JDLC owner Jesusito Legaspi.

San Juan explained that all decisions of the board made on the construction of PDMB, then called Central Boulevard Project, was approved by the Commission on Audit (COA) and "the higher authorities," referring to Estrada and then executive secretary Ronaldo Zamora. "I don’t know what offense we have done," he said.