House panel summons contractor linked to Benjamin Diokno

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives’ rules committee has issued a subpoena to the contractor whose officials have been linked to in-laws of Budget and Management Secretary Benjamin Diokno and whose projects were among those included in the P75-billion insertions of the department in the proposed General Appropriations Act for 2019.

House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. expects CT Leoncio Construction led by Consolacion Leoncio – whose billions worth of projects supposedly “found their way to the in-laws” of Diokno in Casiguran, Sorsogon – to appear at the Jan. 3 hearing in Naga City.

Aside from Leoncio, owner of C.T. Leoncio, others subpoenaed were Department of Public Works and Highways engineers Virgilio Eduarte, Danilo Verzola, Ignacio Odiaman, Wilfredo Flores, Larry Reyes, Merla Raveche, Jorge Gorimbao, Victor Azupardo, Gil Augustus Balmadrid, Noland Claro Guerrero; and Malou Lacuna, Renato de Vera and Dr. Elenita Tan.

Records have shown the subpoenas were received by the Philippine National Police Region 5 as early as Dec. 20.

The entire Sorsogon province comprised of 15 towns got a whopping P10 billion from the national government this year and is seeking P6 billion more in the 2019 budget bill, an election year, mostly for flood-related projects.

Diokno, who has repeatedly denied the allegations of unduly favoring the Leoncios from Bulacan province, is an in-law of Sorsogon Vice Gov. Esther Hamor, whose son Romeo Sicat Jr. in her first marriage was married to Diokno’s daughter Charlotte Justine.

Hamor’s second husband Edwin is the incumbent mayor of Casiguran in Sorsogon. He admitted to media that his children own a construction company – Aremar Construction Corp.) – and may have known the Leoncios from Bulacan.

“We expect the attendance and full cooperation of these people in the House investigation. The House will not hesitate to issue arrest orders should those subpoenaed refuse to appear in our congressional hearings,” Andaya warned.

“We also expect Ms. Leoncio and the Department of Public Works and Highways officials to bring with them copies of transaction documents involving the infrastructure projects in question,” the Camarines Sur congressman said.

Andaya said the House would like to know if bidding for the P325 million worth of flood-control projects for 2019 in Casiguran town alone had already started, as “these projects were included in the P75 billion inserted by the DBM in the NEP (National Expenditure Program) submitted to Congress.”

“Interestingly, the P325-million new projects in Casiguran are part again of the flood control program,” the House leader disclosed.

These include the Himaoyon flood control (P75 million); Lungib seawall and embankment (P80 million); Somal-ot seawall and embankment (P100 million); Cagpagol river control (P45 million), and Suji river control (P25 million).

“The DPWH must be able to explain why Casiguran, the town of Mayor Edwin Hamor who is the in-law of our DBM secretary, is flooded with flood-control projects,” Andaya said in a statement.

Andaya wants Region 5 DPWH officials, along with the allegedly favored contractor, to shed light on the so-called flood control scam and other anomalous transactions involving multibillion-peso infrastructure projects in Sorsogon province.