Flood probe: More COA fraud reports reach ICI
The Commission on Audit (COA) has submitted four new fraud audit reports to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) to aid its investigation of anomalous flood control projects undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
This brings the COA’s total fraud audit reports to 17, nine of which were earlier submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman and four to the ICI.
The latest reports pertain to four fully paid flood control projects awarded to three contractors by the DPWH 1st District Engineering Office in Bulacan that turned out to be either nonexistent or had “mismatched” locations.
Two projects by Syms Construction Trading involved flood control structures in Baliuag worth P92.6 million and along Angat River in Pulilan costing P92.7 million.
According to the COA’s field investigators, the inspection on Sept. 24 showed that there was no such structure that existed in the DPWH-approved location in Baliuag.
The first district engineering office “instead pinpointed” to auditors a different location “but offered no explanation for the change.”
Location mismatch
“Despite this, COA proceeded to inspect the site … where it found an existing structure that utterly failed to meet the project specifications,” the COA said.
The auditors also noted that the district office also failed to submit a “significant number of critical support documents” to the COA despite having “fully paid” Syms Construction.
For the Pulilan flood control project, the COA said a separate inspection was conducted on Sept. 17.
“While the pinpointed site and the approved project location are within the same general area, COA only saw an abandoned slope protection structure,” the agency stressed. “Moreover, based on information available to COA, the structure already existed prior to the project’s start date.”
“Again, COA underscores that this is another ghost project,” it said.
Another company flagged by COA was Topnotch Catalyst Builders Inc., which was involved in the construction of a riverbank protection structure in Barangay Bagong Silang in Plaridel with a contract cost of P69.4 million.
The inspection last Sept. 15 showed that this was yet another case of a “mismatched project site.”
“At the original approved project site, COA did not find any flood control structure,” the statement added. “While at the pinpointed location, COA found a flood control structure which falls short of the approved specifications.”
Corruption charges
The third company is Triple 8 Construction and Supply Inc., which was involved in the construction of a riverwall in Barangay Pagala in Baliuag with a contract cost of P96.4 million.
No flood control project was again seen at the approved location during the COA’s inspection last Sept. 23, according to state auditors, and at the pinpointed different location, the flood control structure “drastically falls short of the approved plan.”
Most of the DPWH officials tagged in the projects were district engineer Henry Alcantara; assistant district engineer Brice Ericson Hernandez; planning and design section chief Ernesto Galang; construction section chief Jaypee Mendoza; engineers Irene Otingco, Joshua Blitz Roxas, Bernardo Villafuerte, John Michael Ramos Raymond Tolentino, Lorenzo Pagtalunan, Elmer Arellano and Lemuel Ephraim Roque, and contractors Sally Santos (Syms Construction), Eumir Villanueva (Topnotch Catalyst) and Wilfredo Natividad (Triple 8), along with the latter company’s officers and board members.
“The individuals involved may face charges for graft and corruption under Republic Act 3019 (anti-graft law), malversation and falsification of documents under the Revised Penal Code, as well as violations of COA Circular No. 2009-001 and the Government Procurement Reform Act,” the COA said.
