Negros mayor asks NBI to probe P306-M ‘ghost’ antiflood works
BACOLOD CITY—Mayor Renato Gustilo of San Carlos City in Negros Occidental asked the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate three “ghost” flood control projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) amounting to P306.4 million supposedly entered into by his city government with three contractors listed to be from the Cordillera.
“These anomalous ghost projects involving millions or even billions of pesos perpetrated by DPWH personnel in cahoots with unscrupulous contractors must be thoroughly investigated so that those responsible will be flushed out and be held accountable,” Gustilo said in his letter to NBI Director Jaime Santiago dated Aug. 18 and released Tuesday.
Gustilo told Santiago he came to know about the anomalous projects when Ma. Victoria Gregorio, director IV of the DPWH Central Office’s Procurement Service, sent him letters on different dates between March to June requesting for confirmation on the authenticity of the documents issued in connection with the three flood control projects.
The letters took the mayor by surprise as there was “no existing record pertaining to the to construction of flood control projects at Andoon River, Jigalaman River and Palampas River in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, by the contractors named by Gregorio.”
According to Gustilo, the projects supposedly done in his city were a flood control project at Palampas River in Barangay 1 worth P151,516,751.50 allegedly started on Feb. 10, 2023 and completed on Jan. 12, 2024 by APO General Construction from Saliok, Mountain Province; a flood control project at Andoon River in Poblacion worth P77,573,757,60 started on April 13, 2023 and completed on Dec. 18, 2023 by EKC Construction and Aggregates from La Trinidad, Benguet; and another in Jigalaman River in Barangay Guadalupe worth P77,364,067.20 started on April 12, 2023 and completed on Dec. 14, 2023 by Jaben General Contracting & Engineering Services from Baguio City in Benguet.
The mayor said he immediately replied to Gregorio’s letters informing her that those projects did not exist in his city.
Gustilo said he decided to seek the NBI’s help only now “in line with President (Marcos’) fourth State of the Nation Address (on July 28) wherein he sharply condemned serious irregularities in flood control projects.”
Bogus claims
“The projects are, without any iota of doubt, ghost projects because the San Carlos City government never entered into a contract with such contractors who are based in Benguet and the Mountain Province,” he said.
However, the DPWH did make a reference to a flood control work along Andoon River but it was done in March 2023, or a month before the P77.5-mllion flood control work was supposedly done on the same river.
In a post on March 7, 2023 on its Facebook page, the DPWH announced the completion of a P50-million flood control structure in Andoon River, built downstream of the river along Bacolod City’s North Road, “to protect residents” of San Carlos City “during heavy rains.”
In the post, DPWH Region 6 (Western Visayas) Director Nerie Bueno said the project, implemented by the DPWH Negros Occidental Sub-District Engineering Office, was “to complement the already completed structure at the other bank.” It said the “scope of works on the flood control project involves the construction of a 212-lineal meter stone masonry wall structure with provision of coco nets and sodding to control riverbank erosion.”
Nonexistent lawyer
Gustilo said that not only did the flood control projects in his city were nonexistent, his signature was forged on the following documents: notice of award, notice to proceed, contract agreement, certificate of completion and acceptance, and certificate of final acceptance.
He also said he did not appear before a lawyer named “Maria Luisa Cecilia E. Garcia” to have the contracts of agreement notarized.
“To the best of my knowledge there is no Notary Public bearing such a name here in San Carlos City,” Gustilo said. The signatures of engineer Rodney Flores from the City Engineer’s Office in the certificate of completion and acceptance were also forged, the mayor said.
Flores was designated as “city engineer” when his forged signature was affixed on the certificate of completion and acceptance.
Not a supplier
However, “Flores was not the San Carlos City Engineer, not even an OIC-City Engineer, at the time he allegedly affixed his signature, because he was and still is Engineer III at the City Engineering Department,” Gustilo said.
He also sent the NBI a certification from the San Carlos Bids and Awards Committee duly noted by its chair that the contractors involved in the ghost projects are not included in the official registry of suppliers or contractors maintained by the San Carlos City government.
San Carlos City Office in Charge and District Engineer Juan Alfonso Jorbina Sr. also attested that the three contractors named by Gregorio had not implemented any flood control project in San Carlos City.
According to Jorbina, there were flood control projects in San Carlos City but were not undertaken by the three named contractors.
