P1.5-B ‘ghost’ DPWH works on Siargao Island flagged
SAN FRANCISCO, AGUSAN DEL SUR—Surigao del Norte Provincial Board (PB) Member John Cubillan has raised alarm anew over a disturbing pattern of “paper-complete” infrastructure projects in the province, mostly awarded by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to a single contractor.
Cubillan showed the Inquirer a compilation of 21 construction projects on Siargao Island such as roads, bridges and water systems, in all costing P1.52 billion, that were declared completed and were fully paid for, even as many of these remain unfinished or had just barely started.
Cubillan’s revelations came as DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon visited the towns of Pilar and Del Carmen in Siargao Island on Tuesday and openly expressed frustration over unfinished bridges and flood-control projects.
Dizon has ordered an immediate investigation into the delayed projects.
Cubillan said an internal audit conducted by the PB uncovered wide discrepancies between official completion reports submitted by the DPWH 1st District Engineering Office in Surigao del Norte and the actual physical accomplishments of projects implemented from 2021 to 2024.
“This is not an accusation—it is a documented inconsistency,” Cubillan said. “The data clearly shows something is very wrong. This is no longer a simple delay issue. These projects were already declared 100 percent complete on paper and were paid in full, but when we validated them on site, many were only partially built, and some were barely started.”
Dismal output
Among the most glaring cases cited by Cubillan were the four road concreting packages along the Socorro Port–Songkoys Sering Road in Siargao Island, each costing nearly P60 million. While all four were declared complete and fully disbursed as early as 2021, most of the physical work, the audit showed, was carried out only in 2024, while one package remained less than halfway finished.
Cubillan also cited the P85.17-million water supply system in Barangay Tuburan, Del Carmen, tagged as completed and paid despite lacking final DPWH reports and posting only about 80 percent actual accomplishment.
The Asinan Bridge and Maasin Bridge in Pilar town were both listed as completed years ago even though substantial portions were still unfinished well into 2024 and 2025.
The San Isidro Bridge linking the towns of San Isidro, Del Carmin and Sta. Monica, with a contract cost of P85.18 million, showed one of the most severe discrepancies, with actual accomplishment of just over 16 percent despite being declared completed in 2022.
Accountability a must
Cubillan said some of the most alarming findings involved road projects funded under the 2022 General Appropriations Act. These include a P96.49-million road project in Pilar with barely 30 percent physical accomplishment, and several road sections in Socorro with actual progress as low as 8 to 28 percent, all of which were already tagged as completed in official DPWH records.
Even preventive maintenance contracts were affected. A P95.99-million maintenance project along the Del Carmen–Sta. Monica–San Isidro Road awarded in 2023 posted an actual accomplishment of only 0.03 percent despite being declared completed and nearly 90 percent of the project funds disbursed.
Two more maintenance contracts awarded in 2024 along the same road stretch, each costing P46.53 million, were also marked as completed without validated accomplishment data.
Cubillan said multiple years of data now point to a pattern of misreporting which “cannot be dismissed as clerical error.”
He said this has prompted the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to seek the intervention of the DPWH central office, the Commission on Audit and the Office of the Ombudsman.
“When you have projects declared finished years ago but communities are still waiting for usable roads, bridges and water systems today, there is clearly something wrong in the system. This goes beyond negligence. There must be accountability,” Cubillan said. INQ
The SP audit was supported by field documentation, including photos contained in a consolidated report submitted to Cubillan’s office. Several of the geotagged photos, the sources added, even contained embedded names of field engineers linked to the projects, further strengthening the veracity of the images.
Of the 21 projects that underwent the SP’s review, 14, with a total cost of P1.01 billion, were contracted to Boometrix Development Corporation owned by Ronald Abejo, a cousin of former Surigao del Norte 1st District Rep. Francisco “Bingo” Matugas II, one of seven incumbent and past lawmakers linked to construction firms with DPWH contracts who were recently recommended for prosecution by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure.
Four projects, costing a total of P293.5 million, were awarded to a joint venture of Boometrix and Monolithic Construction & Concrete Products, Inc.; one for a joint venture between Boometrix and Mindanao Rock, for P57.32 million; one for a joint venture between Boometrix and Legacy Construction Corp., for P85.18 million; and one for LC Ting Construction & Development Corp., for P76.41 million.
Based on the SP’s compilation, four of the 21 projects should have been completed by 2021, nine by 2022, four by 2023, and another four by 2024.
In a social media post on Dec. 3, Matugas, who was in office when many of the projects were funded, welcomed the DPWH inspection and investigation but stressed that his role was limited to securing funding, while the selection of contractors and project implementation fell under the authority of the DPWH.
He said he had formally requested DPWH officials to submit a detailed report explaining the discrepancies and expressed support for “swift and transparent actions” to resolve the issue.
