Ping: Contractor licenses for sale

MANILA, Philippines —  The Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) is in the crosshairs of a Senate probe for allegedly selling contractor licenses for millions of pesos to blacklisted construction firms and those linked to anomalies and ghost projects.

This was according to Sen. Panfilo Lacson, in response to queries from Senate Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III, saying his office had received complaints from private contractors that they had been offered PCAB accreditation for around P2 million, which also covers bank certifications and other requirements.

Sotto pressed Lacson on why companies tied to controversies – including Alpha and Omega and St. Timothy Construction – continued to secure licenses. President Marcos earlier named the two companies as among the 15 most favored contractors. He noted that despite tax cases and blacklisting issues, these firms operated under interconnected ownership structures.

Sotto said a company owned by a single individual or family would submit documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showing multiple ownership.

“In the SEC papers, the composition of a company is different but in actuality there is only one owner,” Sotto said, citing a 2022 tax case showing a shared address for St. Timothy, Alpha and Omega and the blacklisted St. Gerrard Construction.

Sotto also questioned how St. Timothy was able to renew its PCAB license from 2025 to 2027 despite its involvement in the P96.4-million Bulacan River flood control project.

President Marcos himself found more than 200 meters of river revetment missing during inspection, even though the project was declared completed and paid for.

Lacson replied that such cases pointed to “ghost projects” certified on paper by district engineers and inspectors.

Sotto further raised the case of MG Samidan, a “Category A” contractor that still bagged 58 flood control projects worth P5.02 billion from 2022 to 2025, far beyond its supposed capacity.

He urged stricter penalties for erring firms, saying the one-year blacklisting rule was “too lax.”

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, in her interpellation, cited the case of the Discaya couple whose companies  had all figured in questionable projects.

She said St. Gerrard, blacklisted in 2020, was able to bag a P414-million contract by operating under a different name.

Hontiveros questioned the point of blacklisting if errant firms could simply resurface under new registration papers.

She added that regulatory agencies like the PCAB should already be suspending such firms under a “one-strike policy.”

Meanwhile, Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said members of the House of Representatives linked to anomalies in flood control projects should inhibit from the investigation being readied by three committees of the chamber.

Ridon said nobody can stop the House from conducting its own investigation, adding that they would not entertain requests for “executive session” during the hearing. – Delon Porcalla, Jose Rodel Clapano