Arroyo orders DPWH to speed up repair scam probe

The probe into the car repair anomalies in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has been put in the fast lane.

President Arroyo has ordered the DPWH to speed up its 11-month-old investigation into the P182 million vehicle repair scam following the expiration of the 90-day suspension on those implicated in the anomaly.

Sources within the DPWH said hearings on the administrative aspect of the case are now being conducted daily, instead of the former pace of twice a week, to expedite the termination of the investigation. The hearings were earlier projected to last until the middle of next year, in anticipation of various pleadings and postponements.

"The President, I think, called and ordered the case be rushed," an informant privy to the probe said.

The scam involves anomalous DPWH disbursements for vehicle repairs in 2001, which were later proven to be exorbitant, repetitive or outright fictitious.

The criminal aspect of the case, involving the capital offense of plunder, is now pending before the Ombudsman.

Earlier, all the 17 DPWH personnel implicated in the anomaly and put under preventive suspension served out their suspensions. They are now reporting for duty. These DPWH personnel, however, were not returned to their old posts, except for the three top department officials allegedly involved in the case.

Prior to that, the President reinstated DPWH Undersecretaries Edmund Mir and Mabini Pablo, who were implicated in the anomaly for their failure to detect it. The anomaly was said to have been ongoing since 1999.

DPWH has also moved to prevent a repeat of the car repair scam by issuing Memorandum 300, in which new guidelines for vehicle repair disbursements reduced the allowable emergency repair cost to P10,000 from a high of P25,000. The memorandum was signed by DPWH Secretary Simeon Datumanong.

The anomalous disbursements were made under the guise of emergency repairs, which do not require public bidding.

The new measures, however, should have been issued 15 days after Mir and Pablo were reinstated last Oct. 15. The two reinstated undersecretaries’ staff members said their respective bosses were too busy with their other duties, thus the delay in the issuance of the memorandum.

Apart from lowering the allowable repair disbursements, the DPWH memo also explicitly said "no splitting of repairs to circumvent the maximum amount (is) allowed."

Violation of the new repair disbursement guidelines will be punished with suspension and dismissal.

Vouchers involved in the anomaly showed some 9,000 repair reimbursement receipts costing just below P25,000, but done part by part.

Under the new DPWH memo, a total of eight supporting documents must also be attached for every repair job. To ensure that department funds will not be spent on non-existent, unserviceable or missing vehicles, the following documents must accompany a repair voucher: Certifications that the vehicle to be repaired is still in the DPWH inventory, that the repair was done in an emergency and confirmation from the end-user or person actually driving the vehicle.

Other documents that must be attached to the voucher are the inspection and acceptance reports, a purchase request (for necessary parts) and abstract or open canvass of at least three accredited suppliers, certification of budget and a record of the subject vehicle’s repair history.

As many as nine different persons, from bureau directors to clerical workers and vehicle end users will be signing the documents, with some signing several times. The budget for such repairs will also be set aside annually, subject to the approval of the DPWH secretary.

The DPWH Internal Audit department was also empowered to inspect all the transactions.

The order also indicated "that there shall be no exceptions" and would include all vehicles nationwide.