9,000 DPWH workers to lose jobs when offices linked to vehicle scam are closed

About 9,000 engineers and other employees of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will lose their jobs this year when two bureaus linked to the P182-million vehicle repair scam are disbanded.

The Bureau of Equipment (BoE) and the Bureau of Maintenance (BoM) will be privatized and they would henceforth be funded from the road users’ tax.

Public Works and Highways Undersecretary for Planning Teodoro Encarnacion told The STAR the two offices and 14 others will be abolished as part of a government reorganization to cut costs and streamline operations.

"What we are doing is to let that which can be done better by the private sector be done by them," he said. "The government in the long run will be able to save more in the reorganization since the compensation packages would just be one time."

However, Encarnacion said the abolition of the 17 offices would not take place this month, but he confirmed that it would be implemented this year.

"It is not yet sure when it would be, I do not want to be the bearer of bad news," he said. "Anyway those who would be affected have been informed about this long ago and they would be given attractive compensations."

Sources said half of the 9,000 employees to be affected by the reorganization are casual employees whose contracts are renewed periodically based on the work load.

Sources said these casual employees are not likely to receive much compensation, regardless of their number of years in service.

The funds for those who will receive compensation is uncertain because the government suffered a huge budget deficit last year, sources added.

Nash Maulana, DPWH spokesman, said yesterday the Office of the Ombudsman and not Secretary Simeon Datumanong would decide the fate of more than 20 DPWH officials and employees implicated in the vehicle repair scam.

Datumanong said earlier he would be acting on the recommendations the panel investigating the case, but he could not be reached yesterday to verify the statement of his spokesman.

Datumanong is also expected to decide the case of the P7-billion right-of-way anomaly by the end of the month.

Meanwhile, Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Manuel Bonoan has resigned as chairman of the bids and awards comitttee for the Visayas and Mindanao following allegations that he had been meddling in the awarding of contracts.

Sen. Robert Barbers has accused Bonoan of suspending the awarding of a contract on a portion of the Surigao-Davao coastal road to a winning bidder to favor another contractor.

Sources said Datumanong accepted Bonoan’s resignation last Friday but Bonoan was unavailable for comment.