20 mostly DPWH execs face flood control raps

No flood documents damaged in fire

MANILA, Philippines —  The Department of Public Works and Highways has filed malversation complaints against over 20 people, most of them DPWH engineers and contractors, over anomalous flood control projects in La Union and Davao Occidental.

Accompanied by Independent Commission for Infrastructure chairman Andres Reyes Jr., DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon transmitted the complaints to the Office of the Ombudsman.

Dizon said the amounts involved are greater than the P8.8-million threshold, making the offenses non-bailable and warranting life in prison.

Benguet Rep. Eric Yap is a “person of interest” in the La Union project, who is “know to be” the beneficiail owner of Silverwolves Construction, which implemented the project in La Union, according to Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla.

Dizon said the La Union project was split into two contracts amounting to P89.737 million each, or a total of P179.5 million.

The Davao Occidental project amounted to P96.5 million and was reportedly implemented by St Timothy Construction Corp. owned by Curlee and Sarah Discaya.

Dizon described it as a ghost project.

Remulla said he would ask “as soon as possible” the Anti-Money Laundering Council to freeze the assets of Yap, a former party-list representative of ACT-CIS.

No flood documents destroyed in fire

Meanwhile, Dizon said no documents related to anomalous flood control projects had been destroyed in the fire that struck the DPWH building in Quezon City on Wednesday.

At a briefing yesterday, Dizon assured the public and concerned authorities that all the documents relating to the ongoing investigation on flood control corruption had been retrieved and secured round-the-clock at the central office in Manila. The fire damaged the DPWH Bureau of Research Standards building.

Dizon said two retired police generals appointed to undersecretary positions, Arthur Bisnar and Charles Calima are leading efforts to secure the documents.

“They’re all here to protect the evidence,” he said, referring to Bisnar and Calima.

“We’re doing that 24/7 – protection of the evidence,” Dizon said. “We’re doing everything to get back the money of our countrymen.”

Dizon admitted he and the other DPWH officials had initially thought saboteurs were behind the blaze.

“We had the same initial reaction like our countrymen. We were even more suspicious than our countrymen,” he said. “If the public is highly suspicious, me and General Bisnar are also highly suspicious.”

But he stressed Bisnar is still investigating the incident. “No documents related to the ongoing investigations were stored there,” Dizon stressed.

He also clarified a pronouncement from DPWH Assistant Secretary Melody Villar at the Senate that the fire had also affected the adjacent DPWH Region 4-B office. “The Region 4B building is safe and sound,” Dizon said.

Bisnar, for his part, said that in their first week in the DPWH, Dizon had ordered the scanning of all documents related to the flood control projects and all other infrastructure projects in the last 10 years. Physical documents and hard copies have already been transported to the DPWH central office in Manila.

Also yesterday, Dizon directed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct a thorough background check on all DPWH appointees as part of the agency’s continuing integrity reforms.

Dizon said he has also sought help from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Institute of Corporate Directors and the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) for a multisectoral background check on top officials of the DPWH.- Ranier Allan Ronda