P13-M windfall awaits Bayani

It’s payback time, literally, for acting Public Works and Highways Secretary Bayani Fernando as he takes over a department that owes his construction company money.

If the arrears issue is resolved in his favor, Fernando stands to get a windfall of P13 million for projects BF Construction and BF Metal Corp. undertook in 1994.

The payment claims have been docketed for 10 months, but now that Fernando, who is also Metro Manila Development Authority chairman, is acting secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), he can now personally expedite payment.

Former DPWH Secretary Simeon Datumanong turned over the reins of the department to Fernando yesterday in brief ceremonies during which Datumanong, now the justice secretary, tried to hold back tears while delivering his farewell speech.

Afterwards, Fernando admitted that the DPWH owes him money.

"The DPWH should pay me. It is my money," said Fernando, an engineer by profession who was a DPWH contractor when he was still Marikina City mayor.

He said he needed the money now especially after he had divested all of his interests in the company.

Based on documents obtained by The STAR, Fernando’s BF Construction and BF Metal Corp. have as much as P13 million in collectibles for a P59-million 259-classroom prefabricated school building project in Cagayan Valley, Bicol Region and Western Visayas in 1994.

Payments to Fernando’s company however, were only partial and made on installment for every work phase of the project until 1998.

Last April 17, Fernando’s companies followed up on their collectibles, citing internal problems in late 1998 that prevented the earlier pursuit of claims.

The letter, though, would remain unacted on by DPWH Assistant Secretary Florante Soriquez until last November. The next action was auspiciously quicker — on Jan. 7, or shortly after President Arroyo appointed Fernando to the DPWH.

Soriquez was in a meeting with Fernando and other DPWH officials as of presstime yesterday and could not be reached for comment.

But based on the documents, the reason for the partial payments was due to the "COA (Commission on Audit)-noted defects" in the construction projects in Cagayan Valley and Bicol Region. The DPWH required that the defects be repaired before full payment.

In the case of the Cagayan Valley building defects, Fernando’s company said it can no longer do the repairs and merely asked that the estimated costs be deducted from its collectibles.

It could not be immediately determined if the company has any other pending contract with DPWH.

Fernando was also former president and founder of such businesses as Hot Dip Industrial Galvanizing, BF Building Products Manufacturing, and Bright Future Realty Corp.