Firm with P250,000 capital bags P5-B flood control deals
One of the Top 15 contractors that bagged the bulk of the country’s flood control projects under the Marcos administration had a paid-up capital equivalent to only a small fraction of the billions of pesos in contracts it had won from the Philippine government.
Established on March 7, 2019, MG Samidan Construction and Development Corp. had a paid-up capital of P250,000 based on records from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
By 2025, it had become the 12th top contractor based on the value of contracts of flood control projects in the country. The majority of its 58 contracts is located in the Cordillera region and was worth a total of P5.02 billion from 2022 to 2025.
58 contracts
An analysis of the data released by President Marcos showed that of MG Samidan’s 58 contracts, 35 were in Abra province. It also has 11 projects in La Union, six in Mountain Province, four in Benguet and two in Pangasinan.
The company is owned by the Samidan family and is based in Sinto, Bauko in Mountain Province. The Inquirer tried to reach the company officers on the phone numbers registered with the SEC as well as on their Facebook pages but did not get a response.
When the President bared his list, he had cited some possible red flags in flood control projects, including their construction in areas not necessarily known for being flood-prone.
Among MG Samidan’s largest projects is the construction of a flood control structure along the Abra river basin in Barangay San Jose Sur in Manabo, Abra, worth P144.75 million, its second largest contract.
A check with the University of the Philippines’ Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (NOAH), however, showed that the risk of flooding in the area was “little to none.”
Abra, along with Isabela, Sorsogon, Tarlac, Camarines Sur, Negros Occidental, Albay, and Manila round out the top 10 list of where the Top 15 contractors implemented their projects.
7 projects, same price
Based on the National Adaptation Plan of the Philippines 2023-2050, the most flood-prone areas in the country are Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Bulacan, Metro Manila, Maguindanao, North Cotabato, Oriental Mindoro and Ilocos Norte.
MG Samidan also has seven projects pegged at the same contract price—P96.5 million—located in three different provinces: Abra, Benguet and Mountain Province.
Three of the Abra contracts appear to be part of a larger flood control project along the river basin along Bucay and Bangued. It is different, however, from the contracts in Benguet and Mountain Province.
In a briefing by the House committee on public accounts on flood control projects across the country earlier this week, Undersecretary Catalina Cabral of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said it was possible that some contracts have the same amount because they pertain to similar structures, which follow standard unit costings and detailed unit price analyses.
DPWH Region 1 director Ronnel Tan added that it was also possible that the regional office submitted similar budget proposals that were used by contractors as a basis for their bidding price.
Similar to Pharmally
The last time that a company with a small paid-up capital relative to the government projects awarded to it attracted attention was when Pharmaly Pharmaceuticals bagged nearly P11 billion in contracts for various pandemic supplies in 2020. A significant portion of the amount came from the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM).
A Senate investigation noted that these contracts were awarded through negotiated procurement, a method typically used in emergencies, rather than competitive bidding.
The value of these contracts was more than 1,200 percent greater than the company’s paid-up capital of P650,000.
This stark disparity led the Senate to conclude that Pharmally was a “favored, though thinly-capitalized” supplier, which raised concerns about corruption and a lack of proper vetting by government officials. The investigation also uncovered allegations of overpricing and the delivery of substandard medical supplies.
In 2023, the Office of the Ombudsman filed graft charges against former PS-DBM Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao, former PS-DBM procurement group director and former Overall Deputy Ombudsman Warren Rex Liong, and other officials for their involvement in the alleged irregular procurement of COVID-19 supplies from Pharmally.
The Ombudsman also filed graft charges against former PS-DBM Procurement Management Officer Paul Jasper de Guzman and Pharmally executives Mohit Dargani, Twinkle Dargani, Linconn Ong, Huang Tzu Yen, and Justine Garado.
Audit, probe set
Earlier this month, Mr. Marcos ordered the DPWH to audit all flood control projects constructed since the start of his administration in 2022.
The House, through its tricommittee composed of the public accounts, good government and public works panels, are also set to open its own inquiry into allegedly irregular flood control projects, prompted in large part by the President’s fourth State of the Nation Address where he threatened not to sign a General Appropriations Bill that was not aligned with the National Expenditure Program.
Mr. Marcos also lambasted officials and contractors who have profited off flood control projects that failed to mitigate floodwaters during the onslaught of the monsoon.
