DPWH repair scam: 30 people charged

Twenty officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and 10 private individuals were charged with plunder before the Sandiganbayan yesterday over the alleged P134-million "ghost repairs" of department vehicles.

Chief Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio said the charges were filed after an exhaustive investigation by the Ombudsman who found that one of the respondents, DPWH motorpool chief Maximo Borje, was the "hub" of the scam, personally raking in P82.3 million in "reimbursements" in just 10 months, from March to December 2001.

"It’s unthinkable. It’s very difficult to think that a government official can charge the government roughly P375,000 a day for car repair and spare parts. How can you ask for repair 700 times in 10 months? They should have bought new cars," Villa Ignacio said.

Villa Ignacio said about 521 vehicles of the DPWH were "repaired" by Borje and his cohorts.

Aside from Borje, among those charged were DPWH directors Burt Favorito, Florendo Arias, and personnel Erdito Quarta, Agerico Palaypay, Napoleon Anas, Danilo Planta, Luisito de la Rosa, Rogelio Beray, Norma Villarmino, Ricardo Juan, Nelson Umali, Ma. Luisa Cruz.

Also charged were employees Melissa Espina, Violeta Tadeo, Jessica Catibayan, Violeta Amar, Ronaldo Simbahan, Felipe San Jose and Rolando Castillo.

Among the private individuals included in the charge sheet were vehicle spare parts suppliers Conchita de la Cruz, Janette Bugayong, Jesus Capuz, Rodellia Uy, Romeo Fullido, Nanette Fullido, Victoria Go, Carmelito Edem, Augusto Capuz and Vicente Santos Jr.

Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo said Borje and the other respondents "conspired and took advantage" of their position to misuse public funds for fictitious vehicle repairs and appropriated them for their benefit.

The vehicle repair scam was exposed by The STAR last year.

Three employees, who Villa Ignacio said were privy to the scam, came forward to expose the anomaly and were subsequently made state witnesses by the Ombudsman.

Villa Ignacio said the three witnesses were not among the most guilty and could be placed under the Witness Protection Program of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

"They are not among the most guilty, they received their share but not that much. We are urging those in the know that now is the time to come out. And we will grant them immunity. This is the first in the series of big cases. There are three to five more," he said.

No bail has been recommended for the release of the DPWH officials and the supposed suppliers of vehicle spare parts who were also on the take.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor said it will also ask the Bureau of Immigration to place the respondent DPWH officials on its hold-departure list.

Villa Ignacio said they will also file charges of graft, estafa and falsification of public documents against the respondents and push for the freezing of their assets. A lifestyle check would also be made on them.

"These are all ghost deliveries and repairs of heavy equipment. We discovered 4,406 anomalous transactions, which includes all the others," Villa Ignacio said.

As this developed, Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. yesterday asked the DPWH to take the initiative in going after erring contractors responsible for the P33 billion worth of defective public works projects.

Villar said DPWH can invoke the "warranty against defective work" provision of Republic Act 9148, otherwise known as the new Government Procurement Law, to compel contractors to repair botched projects.

"And if the projects are badly done beyond repair, the government should withhold payment, or if such has been made, demand a refund, which RA 9148 allows," Villar said.

Villar pointed out the mandatory warranty for all government purchases was institutionalized to ensure the quality and durability of the goods and services paid through taxpayer’s money.

The senator asked DPWH officials to implement rigid quality checks on public works projects to avoid wastage and to see to it that projects are built according to agreed specifications.

DPWH remains one of the most corrupt government agencies in the country.

The corruption has been stressed as the Philippines was ranked fourth most corrupt country in the Asian region in the recent survey released by the Singapore-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy.

President Arroyo had initiated a lifestyle check on all officials under her administration to stem graft and corruption.

Mrs. Arroyo said yesterday that graft and corruption in the government have long been endemic even before she took office in January 2001. She conceded these problems could not be solved overnight.

"So we acquired that reputation, not overnight but over a long period (of time). This is why we have been really fighting corruption," she said.

Mrs. Arroyo said her administration had taken the initial "strong start" such as conducting lifestyle checks to reduce, if not discourage, graft and corruption.

She said no less than the World Bank has commended her administration’s effort to fight graft through the lifestyle checks on all government officials and employees.

The President said she has enlisted the assistance of the International Commission against Corruption of Hong Kong in the formation of investigative bodies to conduct the checks.

"But even in Hong Kong, it took them seven years to address their own corruption problem," she said. — With Jose Rodel Clapano, Marichu Villanueva