17 DPWH men face ax for vehicle scam

Seventeen officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) face dismissal from the service following the completion yesterday of the probe on a P182-million vehicle repair anomaly in the agency.

Outgoing DPWH Secretary Simeon Datumanong formally announced the sacking of the first 13 government personnel directly involved in the scam.

Three others were suspended for six months without pay for inefficiency in the performance of official duties.

The decision was reached after the five-member panel, formed by Datumanong in January last year to investigate the irregularity, completed 36 hearings on the case.

The vehicle repair scam involved the anomalous disbursement of funds for the repair of some 500 service vehicles and heavy equipment of the DPWH, which turned out to be fictitious, repetitive and priced exorbitantly.

Six other higher officials, all presidential appointees, were separately charged before the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC), which was said to have also completed its investigation.

In a statement, Datumanong said that the prosecution of the six officials recommended for dismissal by the PAGC is now in the hands of the Ombudsman.

In its 15-page decision, the anti-graft body named Burt Favorito and Emily Tanquintic, DPWH administrative officer and chief accountant, respectively, as among those senior officials found guilty of misconduct.

Meanwhile, of the 13 Datumanong ordered dismissed for dishonesty and gross neglect of duty, Maximo Borje of the Motorpool department leads the pack. Results of the investigation show that Borje alone was found to have signed some P60 million worth of anomalous vouchers.

Others ordered dismissed were Erdito Quarto, Danilo Planta, engineer Luisito Tablan, Raul Borillo, Luis Gayya, Agerico Palaypay, Napolen Anas, Ma. Luisa Cruz, Teresita De Vera, Norman Villarimo, Rogelio Beray and Violeta Amar.

Those ordered suspended were Violeta Tadeo, Melissa Espina and cash division chief Renan Sikat.

Datumanong said that 16 of the DPWH employees are allowed to appeal the dismissal and suspension orders within 15 days, after which it will automatically take effect.

"This is a lesson. Who will ever be at the helm of the DPWH, he should know that this could happen and should be prevented from happening again," said Datumanong who will assume the leadership of the Department of Justice next week.

Parallel investigation

Aside from the investigating committee Datumanong created to probe the vehicle repair anomaly, he also issued Department Order No. 158 creating an internal task force to look into the validity of the controversial claims filed with the department for road right-of-way (RROW) compensation.

This developed after Sen. Ramon Revilla filed a Senate resolution urging the public works committee that he chairs to investigate DPWH officials for some P5.8 billion in alleged unpaid RROW claims filed at the department’s regional offices nationwide.

After five months of review, lawyer Joel Jacob said that the task force has found out that not a single centavo has yet been paid to claims filed at the DPWH.

He clarified that the P5.8-billion figure in Revilla’s office represent the amount of unpaid claims which are still under the process of review.

Datumanong explained that government compensation for use of private properties for public purposes is a matter of constitutional right.

"But technically and legally, paying them entails a long and hard process that several government agencies involved have to ascertain the validity of the claims through legal and technical documents," he said.

Jacob explained that from the time that the American colonial government started constructing roads in the country, the government has paid only about P223 million. And this is because it was only in 1997 that the DPWH started processing and paying RROW compensation claims.

Retirements and reshuffles

As Datumanong prepares to leave DPWH, two of his undersecretaries were also leaving the department for early retirement — Undersecretary for Planning Teodoro Encarnacion and Undersecretary for Equipment Pablo Mir, both citing exhaustion as their reason.

"After 30 years I have done my share in serving the government. I have been at the top management for too long," said the 53-year-old Mir.

He vehemently denied that his early retirement has anything to do with the vehicle repair scam saying the administrative charges against him were dismissed.

Encarnacion, 62, on the other hand, chose to retire than to become the next DPWH secretary. He is reportedly retiring in time with his wife’s own retirement.

This leaves only one veteran DPWH official at the helm of the department — Undersecretary for Operation Manuel Bonoan, 57, who is also expected to retire in August, although his staff denied this.

The DPWH, however, has three more assistant secretaries who are expected to be promoted.