Ex-DPWH chief faces graft raps

Former Department of Public Works and Highways officer-in-charge Florante Soriquez and two other officials were accused yesterday of graft before the Office of the Ombudsman for "wasting" P9 billion earmarked for the construction of bridges nationwide.

Charged with Soriquez were Emil Sadain, Philippine Bridge Program executive director, and Kagim Jajurie, Tulay ng Pangulo sa SZOPAD (Special Zone for Peace and Development) Mindanao project director.

Several other unidentified persons have been charged with them.

Filing the complaint was anti-corruption group Sinag ng Bayan Foundation led by former lawmaker Carlos Padilla.

Sinag Bayan recommended to the Office of the Ombudsman the immediate preventive suspension of Soriquez, Sadain and Jajurie.

The group also asked the Office of the Ombudsman to immediately suspend the implementation of the President’s Bridge Program, pending the completion of an investigation by the Commission on Audit and the evaluation of the feasibility studies conducted by the National Economic and Development Authority.

In their complaint-affidavit, Padilla said a big chunk of the loan amounts used in the President’s Bridge Program were wasted through graft.

Sinag Bayan, quoting government reports, said that as of last year, 300 bridges had been constructed under the program at a cost of P9.8 billion (P9,867,118,000.00).

"Government spent too much in implementing the project," said Ermin Garcia Jr., Sinag ng Bayan executive director.

Construction of the bridges was also rushed prior to the elections last year as the sites considered for the bridges were "without any clear basis," he added.

Sinag Bayan said random inspection of some of the completed two-lane bridges showed they led to nowhere, and that some were constructed where access roads did not exist.

Some of the bridges are now being used as pedestrian walkways, the Sinag Bayan added.

The President’s Bridge Program covers the Tulay ng Pangulo sa Countryside, the Tulay ng Pangulo sa Barangay and the Tulay ng Pangulo sa SZOPAD Mindanao components.

The program’s total cost of P9 billion was drawn from a P6.9 billion loan from the United Kingdom with a Philippine counterpart loan of P779.346 million.

Considered one of the flagship projects of the Arroyo administration, the President’s Bridge Program aims to construct 402 modular steel or bailey bridges in local barangays in 74 provinces across 14 regions of the country. — Mike Frialde