Dizon suspends 6 Baguio DPWH execs
Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon has ordered the preventive suspension of six officials of the Baguio City District Engineering Office (DEO) over alleged rigging and manipulation of the bidding process for infrastructure projects in the summer capital.
In a memorandum dated Friday, Dizon also directed the following officials to explain within five days why they should not face administrative complaints in connection with the allegations: Rene Zarate, district engineer; Cesario Rillera, planning and design section chief; Nora delos Santos, maintenance section chief; Jessie Ramos and Frances Vincent Saloria, planning and design section engineers; and Frigilda Legaspi, administrative officer.
The suspension came after a complaint received by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) regarding the purported participation of the six officials in the “rigging/fixing/manipulation of the bidding process for infrastructure projects in Baguio City DEO in exchange for 1 percent to 3 percent of the total contract or project cost.”
“The said manipulation of the bidding process is allegedly done to favor contractors or companies used as dummies by the spouses and family members of certain employees of the DEO,” the memorandum reads.
“It was also alleged that a particular contractor—Goldrich Construction and Trading—has been consistently favored, enabling it to secure 67 percent of the total appropriation of the projects allocated for Baguio City DEO from 2022 to 2025, excluding the projects awarded to Tango-Romeo General Construction, alleged to be a dummy or co-owned company of the latter,” it adds.
This was not the first time Zarate had faced an administrative action. On Sept. 22, Dizon also placed him under a 30-day preventive suspension and filed complaints against him for allegedly refusing to cooperate with the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).
Zarate was accused of gross neglect of duty, gross insubordination, and possible tampering of public documents tied to flood control projects in Baguio.
Discaya project
Meanwhile, the city council of Baguio on Thursday discussed the creation of an independent investigative body to review a local project linked to controversial contractor couple Pacifico “Curlee” and Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya.
The Discaya-owned St. Gerrard Construction was contracted in 2022 to build a modern tennis court for Baguio, which was recently launched and opened to players.
Mayor Benjamin Magalong, ICI special adviser and investigator who resigned on Friday, asked the council on Monday to pursue a third-party investigation, days after he ordered the release of a fact sheet detailing the city government’s transactions with the Discayas.
St. Gerrard won the competitive bidding for the construction of a new tennis court facility and a parking lot for about 70 vehicles at Burnham Park’s Athletic Bowl for P110 million.
However, the city government withheld P26 million in payments because 6 percent of the contract was “unperformed,” said City Administrator Vittorio Jerico Cawis in a Sept. 23 interview.
Councilor Jose Molintas proposed that the project review be led by the Commission on Audit and the City Buildings and Architecture Office, but other councilors suggested including agencies such as the National Bureau of Investigation.
Open all books
The council will proceed with the independent probe after receiving a formal briefing about the project next month.
Magalong directed the city “to open all its books” to investigators to dispel doubts about projects won by one of the top 15 flood control contractors that the President had identified in his State of the Nation Address in July as being linked to questionable government contracts worth P100 billion, Cawis said.
In a fact sheet posted by the City Public Information Office, the Baguio government said the tennis court court project “awarded to St. Gerrard Construction complied with proper bidding and implementation procedures,” citing details from the City Bids and Awards Committee and the City Buildings and Architecture Office.
Ten construction companies, including St. Gerrard, participated in the bidding process. As of Sept. 8, the Discaya firm had completed 94 percent of the project, well beyond its original deadline of December last year, which had already been extended to June.
The facility features elevated courts designed for both tennis and pickleball. It replaced the city’s 40-year-old courts, previously managed by a local tennis club.
Stephen Capuyan, assistant city building officer, said St. Gerrard’s “slippage” involved replacing the existing court topping and achieving the required 1-percent slope to prevent ponding, or the collection of rainwater runoff.
“Delays and deficiencies have resulted in liquidated damages amounting to P4,924,154.43, while their receivables from us remain at P26,249,012.35. These figures reflect their accountability, and we will enforce it fully until all obligations are met,” Magalong said in a post last week.
“A third-party investigation will remove doubts and restore confidence in the city’s processes,” he added.
