House tricom to probe flood control projects
President Marcos’ list of contractors that cornered P100 billion in flood control projects nationwide since 2022 has put the spotlight on two members of Congress allegedly linked to some of them: Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co and Senate President Francis Escudero.
Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon, chair of the House committee on public accounts tasked to investigate anomalous flood control projects starting this week, assured the public that they would “ask the difficult questions” even if it means scrutinizing their fellow lawmakers.
Ridon said the inquiry would be handled by a tricommittee composed of the committees on public accounts and on public works both led by Surigao del Sur Rep. Romeo Momo Sr., and on good government led by Manila Rep. Joel Chua.
He said their inquiry would likely start off from Mr. Marcos’ list to see whether the 15 contractors he named “have been able to do completed projects, delayed projects, substandard projects, or worse, ghost projects.”
Ridon clarified, however, that their primary goal is to first identify anomalous flood control projects and this would be the “trigger” for deeper investigations, including possible ties of lawmakers to these contractors.
He also challenged Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, who alleged that many other politicians are involved with contractors for kickbacks in infrastructure projects, to “come forward and name names.”
“I don’t think we have to comingle his statements with the ongoing pronouncements of the President because that exists independently of what the President is discussing in relation to flood control,” Ridon said. “The challenge stands to him to actually name the names of the legislative contractors that are involved in the matter.”
No sacred cows
“I think the President has been very clear that there should be no sacred cows in our investigation. That is the same attitude we would be undertaking moving into the investigation,” he pointed out.
This includes asking Sunwest Inc., the eighth top flood control project contractor on Mr. Marcos’ list, to explain whether Co was still involved with the conglomerate he founded in 1997.
An Inquirer review of the dataset published on Malacañang’s “Sumbong sa Pangulo” website showed that the Albay-based firm had 79 projects totaling P10,147,835,285.70 from 2022 to 2024.
Eighteen of these were in Romblon, 11 in Leyte, and 10 in Camarines Sur and Oriental Mindoro.
Co, the appropriations chair during the 19th Congress, said in previous interviews that he had already divested himself from the company, now led by Aderma Angelie Alcazar.
His brother, Christopher “Kito” Co (also a former Ako Bicol lawmaker), cofounded both Sunwest and another company on the list, Hi-Tone Construction & Development Corp.
Kito lost his Albay congressional bid to Caloy Loria in this year’s midterm elections.
A review showed that Hi-Tone bagged 61 projects in the same period totaling P4,856,993,286.23, and 23 of these were based in Albay, the Cos’ home province, while 18 were in Camarines Sur.
Demolition job
In Escudero’s case, Ridon urged his colleagues in the Senate to undertake their own investigation so the House can exercise interparliamentary courtesy.
A Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism report in 2023 showed that Escudero received P30 million from Lawrence Lubiano, president of Centerways Construction and Development Inc., during the 2022 elections.
In the next two years, Centerways got 87 projects worth P5,444,745,973.18, of which 56 (valued at P3,045,124,743.10) were implemented in Escudero’s home province of Sorsogon.
Escudero confirmed the Centerways Construction donation, but he insisted that he made no effort to help the firm deal with the government nor is he in any way a business partner in the company.
“Here we go again with the innuendos and insinuations… [Lubiano] has been my friend and acquaintance for a long time and has truly been helping us out even from the very beginning—long before this became an issue—and he really is from Sorsogon,” he said in Filipino.
Escudero believes these form part of a demolition job started by members of the House who were disappointed by the chamber’s archiving of the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte.
Non-existent
Apart from Escudero and the Cos, also linked to the list is the Discaya family, which owns Alpha & Omega Gen. Contractor & Development Corp. and St. Timothy Construction Corp.
Alpha & Omega is led by Sarah Discaya, who ran and lost against Vico Sotto for the Pasig mayorship this year.
The Discayas also own St. Gerrard Construction General Contractor & Development Corp., which was previously suspended by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) under its former name in 2015.
A village chief in Iloilo City said two flood control projects worth P141.855 million and P141.799 million, respectively, in the city that were awarded to St. Timothy Construction do not exist. (See related story on this page.)
According to an Aug. 1 status report of the DPWH-Iloilo City District Engineering Office, both projects supposedly started on Feb. 26, 2024, and were to be completed on Dec. 16 of the same year.
But Efren Senayo, barangay chair of Don Esteban village in Lapuz district, said there was no flood control project in their district.
He said that the last thing that he did with engineers contracted by the DPWH office was to survey the project area.
“What I remember is that there were already plans [drawn]. I have never seen at least one bamboo [pole] set up. We barangay captains are calling each other asking where the [P150 million] went,” Senayo said.
But Ricardo Diño, a barangay councilor from Barrio Obrero, another village in Lapuz, said in a radio interview on Tuesday that a section of the flood mitigation structure was actually being built along their area.
Actual project status
The DPWH, for its part, said it would verify the status of the flood control projects of the 15 contractors that were included in the President’s list.
In an interview over dzMM on Tuesday, Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan said he already dispatched special teams to look into all the flood control projects, particularly those of the 15 contractors.
“The data we provided are actually monitoring information only, but the actual conditions of the projects are not included in that information,” he said in a mix of Filipino and English.
“We’ll have to verify it in the field. What’s also important here is actually we’ll try to find out if the projects they did are there, what the status is, and all these things. We’ll see in the field,” Bonoan noted.
Accountability
In the Senate, Deputy Majority Leader JV Ejercito said it is time for accountability, lamenting that no one is afraid to engage in illegal activities because no big fish has been caught and penalized yet.
“That’s the problem in our country—no one is afraid to abuse power, no one is afraid to steal because no one gets jailed here and they still get away with it,” he said.
Ejercito also suggested a regular reshuffling of district engineers, citing Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s statement that corruption starts at the district level. —WITH REPORTS FROM CHARIE ABARCA, MAILA AGER, JOEY MARZAN, MARY JOY SALCEDO AND INQUIRER BUREAUS
