DBM to expand blacklist of flood control project builders
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said on Monday it would bar more contractors from bidding on public projects, widening a blacklist tied to allegedly irregular flood control works.
In a statement, the DBM said it was “on high alert” to cancel the procurement credentials of Syms Construction Trading and Wawao Builders, pending a formal blacklisting order from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Last week, the DBM already barred nine companies linked to controversial contractor Sarah Discaya from bidding on government projects, citing violations of licensing rules and procurement laws and what it called “evident collusion.”
The companies lost their “platinum membership” to bid following the revocation of their license from the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board. This will remove the contractors’ records from the registry of the electronic procurement system, effectively barring them from future bids.
The banned firms include:
• St. Gerrard Construction Gen. Contractor & Dev’t Corporation
• Alpha & Omega Gen. Contractor & Dev’t Corp.
• St. Timothy Construction Corp.
• Amethyst Horizon Builders And Gen. Contractor & Dev’t Corp.
• St. Matthew General Contractor & Development Corp.
• Great Pacific Builders And General Contractor, Inc.
• YPR General Contractor And Construction Supply, Inc.
• Waymaker OPC
• Elite General Contractor And Development Corp.
The same fate awaits Syms Construction and Wawao Builders, two firms that officials say were behind fraudulent flood control projects in Bulacan. DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon said last week he would impose a “lifetime blacklisting” on the companies, citing what he described as “ghost projects”—contracted works that were either fraudulent or nonexistent.
Wawao Builders, among the 15 contractors earlier flagged by President Marcos for winning major flood control contracts, was awarded a P96-million project in Barangay Sipat, Plaridel, Bulacan. Dizon said the project never materialized.
The firm’s general manager, Mark Allan Arevalo, appeared before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s inquiry into the alleged anomalies but declined to answer whether his company had undertaken ghost projects, invoking his right against self-incrimination.
SYMS Construction, meanwhile, was contracted to build a P55 million reinforced concrete river wall in Barangay Piel, Baliuag, Bulacan. Mr. Marcos, after inspecting the site on August 20, also described it as a ghost project.
The anomalies on flood control projects, flagged earlier by Mr. Marcos, are now at the center of congressional probes running alongside deliberations on the proposed 2026 budget.
DPWH will submit to the House of Representatives a revised list of projects under its proposed budget for next year to address concerns raised by lawmakers, particularly on items related to flood control.
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman earlier said adjusting the DPWH budget would be a more practical solution than returning the entire 2026 National Expenditure Program to the executive branch, which could heighten the risk of having a reenacted budget next year.
Pangandaman said the DPWH and the DBM have two weeks from Sept. 3 to finalize the corrected list and for both agencies to set up a system for flagging duplicate entries and projects already completed but still getting funding.
