DPWH chief cancels 19 flood control projects

MANILA, Philippines – Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson has canceled 19 flood control projects worth P934 million approved during the last days of the Arroyo administration.

A four-man team headed by Jaime Pacanan, undersecretary for administration, finance, information and technology and legal, will investigate the projects funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Singson said those involved in the supposed irregularity would be given five days to submit their defense.

“We would also ask the support of the Department of Justice to file proper charges for prosecution, if there is probability,” he said.

Singson said the flood control projects were scattered in the Ilocos Region, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Metro Manila, Cordillera Administrative Region, and Bicol.

The projects were subjected to negotiated contracts and did not undergo the proper bidding process, he added.

Singson said the contracts were signed on June 18, ahead of the special allotment release order (SARO) that only came out on June 25.

The SARO should come ahead of the signing of the contract, he added.

Singson said JICA informed him that the Department of Public Works and Highways had imposed the negotiated contract policy.

“I canceled the (19) projects a few days prior to President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address (SONA),” he said. By canceling the projects, he would be able to level the playing field, and the winning contractors would be allowed to participate in the re-bidding, Singson said.

In the list of Approved Contract Packages Proposed for Cancellation consisting of the 19 projects, the highest project cost was in Sitio Bato, Barangay San Vicente, San Manuel, Pangasinan worth P228,749,682.31 to be undertaken by Northern Builders.

The same contractor got two projects – in Candaba, Pampanga worth P78.7 million and in Barangay Bodega Section in Floridablanca, Pampanga with P27.5 million.